Thank You!
by madamxcrystalxrose
Summary: Naruto was alone in the beginning, but what if he wasn't? What if he had a friend who believed in him? What would change? This is my first story so please be nice! This is an OCxGaara story, but I will be adding in the romance in later.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! I only own my OC**

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"Speaking" _Thoughts __**Flashback **_**Summon/Demon talking**

"Stay away from him, Asami! I've already told you this many times!"  
"Why should I? Otou-san, he's my friend and I know him! He's really nice and-"  
"Asami! We will not have this conversation again! He is a monster! Stay away from him!"  
With that said, the father shot a glare at a boy of seven and left without waiting for his daughter. Said daughter was standing in confusion and fear. A child's worse fear was to be left behind by their parent and she didn't know what to do. She didn't understand why her father was being so mean to Naruto-kun. He was fun to play with, really nice, and he made her laugh and smile. Her deceased mother had told her that people who made you smile were the best people in the world and you should become friends with them, so why had her father told her to stay away? Her right foot moved forward to run to her father and apologize, but then she remembered what her mother told her.

"_**Sometimes, Asami-chan, grown-ups are stupid!" **_  
_**A woman with bright red hair and violet eyes told her daughter. The woman's husband had decided to take her off the active shinobi list and put her in the hospital. She had been coughing up blood and was pregnant with her third child, a boy, and he didn't want her to injure herself or the unborn child. Hitomi was pissed at being taken care of like a young girl, but she knew better than to say "those" words in front of her firstborn. She sighed as she combed Asami's hair. She was a kuniochi of Konoha and she truly loved it, but it seemed to dim with the death of her older cousin, Kushina and her husband, Minato. She didn't even know if Kushina's child was alive or not. Whenever she asked someone, they either ignored it or changed the conversation. Not even Hokage-sama was telling her anything other than giving her his condolences. And with her falling ill and pregnant at the same time, it was safe to say that she was pissed and very frustrated. "Kaa-chan?" The young girl looked back to her mother and tilted her head.**_

"_**Sorry Asami-chan, but I'm sure that someday you'll understand..." She finished combing and nimbly tied her hair into two low ponytails. Asami smiled brightly at her mother and Hitomi smiled back, but it seemed a bit forced on her side. She took her daughter's small hands into her own and kissed her forehead. She looked over her firstborn and memorized everything about her. Her hair wasn't as red as her's due to her father having dark hair. Her eyes however, were a similar beautiful violet and her skin was a creamy hue. She knew she didn't have much time left before she also left the world and joined Kushina and her clan members. With a sigh, she took off her pendant and earrings and put them on Asami. Her ruby red jewelry had seals inscribed on them and would protect Asami as long as she wore them. "Asami-chan?" **_  
_**"Hmm?" **_  
_**"Can you promise me something?" She nodded her head, wide eyed and ready to listen to her mother. "Alright, see this?" Another nod, "I want you to wear it and never take it off ok?" **_  
_**"Never?" **_  
_**"Never." Asami hesitantly nodded her head and put out her pinky. Hitomi smiled weakly and copied the action. Six months later, Hitomi passed away after giving birth to a healthy boy, leaving her husband to take care of the three children.**_

Asami took the promise to her heart and after four years, she still wore it. She was scared with her father leaving her behind, but she decided that if he was going to be stupid, she wouldn't listen to him. Fumbling in her skirt pocket, she finally found what she was looking for and turned around with a bright smile on her face and walked to the blonde haired boy with sky blue eyes. _If Otou-san doesn't want me anymore, then I don't need him too! Plus, I have Naruto-kun now! _As she approached Naruto, he looked up at her with wide eyes. She held out the Ichiraku Ramen coupon and smiled at him. "Let's go eat Naruto-kun!"  
"But what about your dad? Didn't he tell you to stay away from me like everyone else?" His blue eyes were full of pain as he asked her. Her smiled died down a bit as she replied, "Naruto-kun, Otou-san is stupid...He doesn't know you like I do! You're my friend Naruto-kun! I'm not going to leave you!" His eyes were wide with shock as he listened to her. It was the first time someone had called him a friend and chose him over the words of their own father. She smiled and took his hand as she pulled him to Ichiraku Ramen.

"Why?"  
It was the first word Naruto said since they had arrived and sat down each with a bowl of ramen.

"What do you mean?"  
"Well, why did you choose to do all of this for me? You could've run to your dad and never talk to me again...Everyone else did..." Although the last part was said quietly, Asami heard it clearly and it saddened her to hear it. She always thought of Naruto as the sun, bright and always shining. She decided that she wanted him to smile so she would do her best to make him smile, starting by telling him the truth.

"Naruto-kun, do you remember when I was asked by Iruka-sensei a question and I didn't know?" He nodded with a raised eyebrow, "I had absolutely no idea what the question was and I was embarrassed. That was when you cut in and answered for me. Even though it wasn't correct, Iruka-sensei let it go and answered it himself. I know it sounds silly Naruto-kun, but I really am thankful...That was a sad day for me and it was hard to pay attention..." _That was the day kaa-san died...Even though it's been four years, it still hurts to not see her at home or coming back from a mission with a smile on her face. _  
"So we're friends because I interrupted that day?" he asked confusion in his voice. She smiled and shook her head, it wasn't the entire reason.  
"Not entirely Naruto-kun. We're friends because despite everything that happens to you, you still smile and I want to help you smile. I've seen you sitting by yourself during recess Naruto-kun...You looked like you were in pain, and my mother told me that I should do my best to help people smile. At first I just wanted to help you Naruto-kun, but now I want to be your friend so that I can always help you smile and so much more. I-" She stopped when she heard sniffling. "Naruto-kun?" _Oh no, did I make him cry? I didn't mean to..._She remembered what her mother used to do whenever she was crying and wrapped her arms around her hopefully new friend. He stiffened at the contact but didn't pull away so she rubbed his back while tears ran down his face. After about 5 minutes of continuous back rubbing and comforting words, Naruto's tears dried and a bright smile followed it along with three words that would forever change the world, "Thank you Asami-chan!"

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**Hello there! So this is my first fan fic and I know that I'm pretty bad but the idea just didn't go away so I decided why not type it and see what others think? I know that it seems pretty sketchy and silly and I'm sorry if you don't like my OC. She's most likely going to turn into a Mary Sue by the end or become really OP so I'm sorry if you don't like that, but this is my story so if you don't like it, please go somewhere else. **

**My knowledge of Naruto is okay (I'll be using the Naruto wiki a lot with what I don't know), but my Japanese is horrible. I will use some Japanese words like hai or gomen and for jutsus since this does take place in Japan, but the translation is going to be rough with me using Google Translate and maybe other helpful English to romaji sites. Sorry for the long note but just wanted to inform any readers. By the way, I know that my grammar sucks but I'll try my best. Also, most of this has already been typed up so there's not going to be much interaction with this story and the readers opinions. Sorry, but I like to be prepared and I reread my stories often to see if I should change anything. One more thing, there are some things that are similar in some fics I've read and I'm very sorry if I copied something from you! I try not to copy but I'm not perfect. However, there are many things in this story that are mine so please don't say that I copied something from someone just to spite me. By the way, I really like humor, romance and irony in stories, but I also suck at writing those so please go easy in me ne? Thanks for understanding! Please stick along with me if you've enjoyed, if you haven't, well I hope you'll find another fic that you'll like! See ya!**


	2. The Beginning-Academy Days

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! I only own my OC and later on Arcs I'll be creating...**

"Speaking" _Thoughts __**Flashback**_**Summon/Demon talking**

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Konoha

_Konohakagure. The Village Hidden In The Leaves. She was famous for many things. Her Hokage were strong yet kind and had a Council so that her civilians still had a voice. Her weather was always warm, but still had rain, letting her shinobi train all year if they wanted to and in different conditions. Her shinobi were known for their love of teamwork and producing some of the strongest shinobi. However, she also had...special shinobi. They were usually the strongest, but they had their quirks...Perhaps this would be his quirk? _A girl of 8 mused silently as her best friend jumped across roofs with an ANBU team behind. As he passed her, he threw her a wink and bright smile with a raspberry at the ANBU.

She laughed at his tactics and how he was able to evade ANBU, one of the strongest shinobi, and jounin after his pranks. He had just painted the Hokage tower a bright orange and was currently running from jounin, chuunin, and an ANBU team. Her father still disapproved of her friendship with him, but she didn't mind. Naruto was her friend, and it was her life. _He can say what he wants, but I'll choose if I should listen or not! _

Naruto was eventually caught by Iruka-sensei and had to clean it up by himself without any help. _I think he was indirectly talking to me..._Asami thought with a small smile and looked at Naruto with an apology in her eyes. He smiled and rubbed the back of his head and quickly went to clean up. She nodded and followed Iruka-sensei back to the Academy. Along the way, Iruka-sensei decided to talk to her. "I don't understand how you and Naruto-kun can understand each other without talking...How do you two do that?"

Asami smiled and thought for a brief moment before answering. "Naruto-kun and I may have only known each other for a year, Iruka-sensei, but during that year, we spent a lot of time with each other." She shot him a grin and he sighed but the corners of his mouth were curved up into an almost visible smile.

During class, she would take notes for Naruto so that he wouldn't fall behind too much and even though he skipped class, he would still read over her notes. Although she quickly found out that he couldn't read, so she had to teach him. It was a long and hard process, as she had a limited amount of knowledge, but they both prevailed in the end. However, they both later found out that when genin teams were created, one team, Team 7, would have the male and female student who scored the highest paired with the student (usually a male) who scored the lowest. Together, they decided that Naruto would be the dead last while Asami would try to have the highest score. It was easier for Naruto since he would just continue on skipping class with Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba. Although Asami had the highest score for academic things, she had trouble with the physical aspect. Her stamina was horrifyingly low, accuracy a bit better but still bad enough that it made first years at the Academy cringe, and her hand seals...well let's just say that although her chakra control was amazing, she sucked at using her hands nimbly. She had to stay after class and even then, her skills barely improved.

After the Academy

Asami sighed as she walked to Naruto and sat beside him on the playground swing. It had become a habit and after class, they usually met up there and would either head off to Ichiraku or to the Hokage Monument to rest on the Yondaime's head.

"Any progress Asami-chan?" Naruto asked his best friend worriedly. She sighed again and shook her head. With a small smile she replied, "Sorry Naruto-kun...I wish I could say that I have, but I don't want to lie to you..." She slowly swung back and forth and took a deep breath to get rid of any tears that were trying to fall.

"Ne Asami-chan! Guess what, today I got to play another prank on Yumiko-san and her face turned purple! Haha, you should have seen it Asami-chan!" _Naruto-kun..._Asami smiled at his attempts to cheer her up and quickly remembered something.

"Ne Naruto-kun, when's your birthday?" Naruto's smile dimmed at that question. "Naruto? I'm sorry, you don't have to-"

"It's ok Asami-chan! My birthday's on October 10th!" _October 10th? Hmm that's the same day as the Kyuubi festival..._She looked over at him and noticed that he was a bit stiff, she smiled reassuringly as she answered, "I guess that leaves me with a week to find you a present then, ne?" He grinned back at her answer, "Yep! Make sure you get me something super cool then Asami-chan!" She nodded back and both ran off to play Ninja.

"Ok Asami-chan, I get to be the good guy this time!"

She nodded, "Ok then Naruto-kun! Get ready!"

_One Week Later_  
_Hmm, I don't know what to give to Naruto-kun...I already make him lunch so it's not very special...I don't have much money either..._As she walked through the market, she noticed a new stall opening. _Hmm, maybe they have something I could give him?_ She walked towards the stall with a hopeful smile. "Hello there miss! Anything I can do for you?" A young man with red hair asked her.

"Do you have anything I can get for my best friend? His birthday is tomorrow and I haven't been able to find anything for him yet..." The man scratched his chin as he thought and his green eyes lit up as he brought something out. Showing her an orange book with the words "Icha Icha Paradise" and a woman running from a man. Before Asami could read a bit of what it was about, the man quickly took it back with a blush and coughed into his hand before muttering a quick apology and taking out another orange book and handing it to her.

"What was the other book about mister?" Asami asked curiously. His blushed deepened before answering, "It's something you're not old enough for yet miss..." She tilted her head but nodded before looking back at the book. The title on this book was "Fuuinjutsu". _Hmm fuuinjutsu? So the art of sealing then? Maybe Naruto would like this? But would it fit him? _She looked at the Hokage Monument and at the Yondaime's head. _Well, Naruto-kun does look up to him and he was best known for fuuinjutsu...Naruto-kun also wants to become the best Hokage too...Say...now that I think about it, doesn't Naruto look like the Yondaime? They both have spikey, gravity-defying hair and if you imagined him with the same color scheme as Naruto-kun with his whisker marks...He would look like an older version of Naruto-kun! Hmm maybe I can ask Iruka-sensei! He's a teacher so he must know right?! _

"Everything alright miss?" Asami blinked before realizing that she wasn't paying attention and blushed before nodding her head. "How much is this? I think my friend would really like it!"  
"Hmm, that book is very special and important, so it'll be at least 100,000 ryo!" _100,000 ryo?! For a book?! _  
"I'm sorry mister, I don't have enough ryo for it," _I only have 300 ryo..._she added mentally as she handed it back. However, the man simply shook his head and pushed it back. "Why don't we make a deal then? You can have the book plus another book you might like if you give me," he paused momentarily, looking at over her, "Why don't you give me your necklace in exchange?" _W-what?! _She reached up to clutch her necklace. "I-I'm sorry mister, but I can't do that. I promised my Kaa-san that I would never take it off..."

"Hmm I'm sure she wouldn't mind miss, plus you'll still have your earrings!" She didn't like breaking promises, but this was for Naruto.

"Hmm ok then..." She reached up and took off her necklace, mentally asking for her mother to forgive her for breaking their promise. The man smiled and handed her the books. The other book he gave her was blue with the title, "Ninjutsu". Her eyes widened and she opened the book, only to find that it was empty. She tilted her head and the man chuckled at her confusion.

"Here," she handed him the book to his outstretched hand and watched as his hand glowed with chakra. "I know you can't see it right now, but once you insert your chakra into this book, you'll be able to see the techniques!"

"But how is it going to work for me mister? Plus couldn't others use it too?" He smiled and shook his head, "No one else but you will be able to use this. It was after all made specifically for you."

"What? But-"

"Your mom was an old friend of mine and I owed her something, so she asked me to make you this book filled with some of my jutsus and all of hers. I was supposed to give this to you when you make genin, but I figured that I might as well give it to you now!" Her violet eyes were wide open. She knew that her mother was a shinobi, but she never thought that she would ask this man to give her something this special. She loved her mother dearly even though she didn't have much in common with her other than her slightly red hair and violet eyes.

Blinking away tears, she smiled at the red head and bowed deeply, "Thank you mister!"  
"Haha no problem miss! By the way, the only people who can see anything in there is only myself and soon, you. All you have to do is insert some of your chakra into it and it'll recognize you!"  
"Hmm that's all I have to do?" He nodded his head. "Alright then! Thanks!" She smiled and waved before running home with her two books. As she hurried home, she passed Iruka-sensei and remembered her previous thoughts. "Iruka-sensei!"

"Hmm? Oh, is there something you need, Asami-chan?"

She paused for a bit before answering. "Ne, is Naruto-kun related to the Yondaime?"

"Eh?! Why do you think that?!"

She shifted her weight, hesitating "Well, it's just that Naruto-kun kinda looks like him..."

Iruka scratched his chin, "Hmm well I don't know but the Yondaime never had any kids and he was also an orphan."

"Ohh...Thanks Iruka-sensei! I'll see you tomorrow!" _Hmm...I guess I was wrong then...I wished I could've helped Naruto-kun learn who his parents were...I hope he'll still like his present though!_

At Asami's House

_So I just have to insert my chakra into it? _She held the book up and sat down on her bed. She took a deep breath as she concentrated on focusing her chakra. She knew she was going to be drained since her chakra reserves were horrible. She was shocked when instead of usually feeling drained, however, she felt fine and could actually see her chakra! _How is this possible?! I usually can't even see my chakra! _Once she opened the book, tears filled her eyes as she saw her mother's writing.

"To Asami-chan, from Okaa-san. How are you doing? I'm sorry I'm not with you right now, but I know that you must've grown even cuter right? Haha anyways, I hope Hotaru didn't scare you too much by popping in out of nowhere! I hope that you'll forgive me Asami-chan...I had no other choice...Good luck Asami-chan, I hope that when we meet, you'll be able to tell me many things about your life as a kunoichi of Konoha! Love, Uzumaki Hitomi."

_Wait...Uzumaki?! That's Naruto-kun's surname too! Are we related then? _A sigh escaped her mouth, _I wish you were still here Kaa-san...There are so many questions..._

Academy

"Naruto-kun!"

"Asami-chan?! Wow, you're actually late?!"

"Hehe well you see, I was reading a book I got and I kinda over slept..." A light blush and a small smile appeared on her face as she explained what happened. "Oh! By the way, happy birthday Naruto-kun!" She handed him her gift to him and smiled.

"Is...Is this for me?"

Asami tilted her head, _Well who else would I have given it too? _  
He looked away, _I don't know..._He held the book as though it was the only thing left in the world...Asami's eyes opened as she realized that this must've been one of his only presents..."Naruto-kun..."

"Thank you Asami-chan!" A bright grin was put on his face but it quickly turned into confusion as he read the title. "Ne Asami-chan? What's fuuinjutsu?"

"Matte, Naruto-kun, you don't know?" He shook his head, "Fuuinjutsu is the art of sealing. It's used to seal objects, living beings, chakra, and much more. It can also be used to unseal objects too! Examples would be items like explosive tags or storage scrolls. Although fuuinjutsu is used by many shinobi, there aren't very many that can master it since it's hard to understand and can be very dangerous if used improperly."

"Then why give Naruto a book about fuuinjutsu to understand?" Kiba-kun asked aloud. Asami smiled as she explained her reason, "Because since Naruto-kun is going to become the best Hokage, he'll have to be better than even the Yondaime whose specialty was fuuinjutsu!"  
"What makes you think Naruto-kun's going to become the Hokage Asami-chan?"  
"Because I believe that he can Chouji-kun!" Shikamaru sighed and muttered "troublesome" and before we could continue our conversation, Iruka-sensei arrived.

After Academy

As each student left with a parent or guardian, or a group of fan girls if you were Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto and Asami left with each other. Asami's father had stopped picking her up after the small fight, leaving her able to spend time with Naruto after class. Today, they were going to the Monument to celebrate Naruto's birthday. However, she made a quick stop at her room to get the food for the picnic and a blanket for them to sit on. Once out of breath but happy at the view of Konoha, they sat down and prepared their picnic.

"It's too bad that we can't go the festival, but we can still get a nice view of it!" the violet eyed student exclaimed with her hands on her waist. Naruto brought his arms behind his head and smiled. It was his first time celebrating his birthday with someone other than the Hokage and he was excited. Although, he was also glad that he wasn't home either. Drunks would usually break into his house and destroy his furniture or if he was unlucky enough, they would beat him. It wasn't too bad since the Hokage had assigned ANBU to watch over him, but they can only do so much without getting in trouble. He hoped that everything would be ok, he didn't want Asami to get hurt because of him. His stomach growled and they both laughed and sat down to eat. "Ne, Asami-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you really mean it when you said that I could really become the best Hokage?" Her face lit into a smile, "I did Naruto-kun..." She stood up and Naruto copied her. She turned on her heels and faced him before scrunching up her face and quickly smiling when she saw the blanket. She took the blanket and a clean paper plate and went back to Naruto with a small twinkle of mischief in her violet eyes. She tied the blanket around his neck and using some ninja wire, tied the plate on like a hat.

"There we go!" She stepped back and viewed her work with a smile. "Now you look just like a Hokage Naruto-kun!" His cheeks turned a slight pink as he rubbed the back of his head careful not to knock over the plate. "Thanks Asami-chan! I promise I'll become the best Hokage ever!"

"Hmm, pinky promise?" She stuck out her pinky and grinned as he copied her.

"It's a promise Asami-chan." She grinned as she got an idea. She once saw an ANBU kneeling down to the Hokage and she decided that since Naruto was going to be the Hokage, she would be his ANBU captain. Just like she remembered, she kneeled down on one knee and put him right hand over her heart. "Asami-chan?"  
"Hehe you can't become the Hokage if you don't have anyone to protect you! Once you become Hokage, Naruto, I'll guard you and stay by your side!" She bowed her head and took a deep breath," I, Hakumei Asami, promise that I will protect you with my own life on your journey to become the best Hokage and even after you become the Hokage." She looked up and smiled at Naruto's bashfulness,

"Asami-chan...Thanks..."

"No problem! That's what best friends are for right?"

"Hehe, by the way, where did you learn to do that?"

"Hmm I saw an ANBU kneeling to the Hokage and the promise thingy...I made up on the spot." They looked at each other and for a moment, you would see a blonde haired Hokage with his ANBU captain from faraway. The illusion ended somewhat when both busted out laughing, but quickly ended when voices were heard approaching them.

"Quick! Go and hide Naruto!" He nodded and ran off; she took a deep breath and sat down. _I hope that if any shinobi appears, that they're drunk enough that they can't see through my act..._

"OI! Have you seen the demon brat, little girl?!" Mentally she glared at them but only tilted her head in confusion. "I don't know who you're talking about mister..."

Another man answered, "Che, I'm sure you know him, Naruto..." She paused as though she was thinking, "Hmm I don't know where Naruto-kun is...Why?"

"Nothing you need to know about kid..."

"Hey let's look around here..." The group nodded and Asami panicked, "Hmm? I think I saw something orange move over there," she pointed towards the opposite direction. Thankfully the men all followed her direction and left. She waited and counted to 60 before she turned around and looked around. "Naruto-kun?" she called out softly, just in case the shinobi were still close, "It's safe now..." He cautiously walked towards Asami before sighing in relief and falling back. "That was close ne Asami-chan?" He chuckled a bit before getting up, "Thanks, this'll definitely be the most memorable birthday."

"Haha, no problem Naruto..." She went over and laid by his side and both continued talking with all the excitement of the 8 year olds they were.

4 Years Later

"Naruto!" Asami cringed as Iruka-sensei yelled at Naruto to clean up the paint on the Hokage Monument. She sighed, _Even after four years, he's still pulling pranks...then again,_ she looked around the classroom, _No one's really changed much...Sakura and Ino were still fighting over Sasuke, said boy became quiet and obsessed with revenge (not too surprising due to the massacre), the dead lasts, consisting of Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba, were still the dead lasts, Shino was still quiet, and Hinata was still shy...and of course I was tied with Sakura as top kunoichi academic wise, although I was now tied with Hinata physically wise. Ever since I gave Hotaru-san Kaa-san's pendant, my chakra levels increased along with my accuracy, endurance, and stamina. My hand seals, however, increased the most. I could go even faster than the last Uchiha! Naruto and I had been furiously studying the books we received four years ago. _

She shifted in her seat as she waited for Iruka-sensei to arrive. Naruto was currently staring at Sasuke while Sakura and Ino were yelling at him. _Hmm, what is he doing? Is he trying to find out if he's nervous for the Graduation Test today? Speaking of tests, I hope he was able to figure out how to use _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_...his kawamari is fine and I'm pretty sure he'll probably use Oiroke no Jutsu_ _for henge...I know he doesn't care much for the written part so- _"NARUTOOO!" Amethyst eyes quickly focused on the situation and bulged seeing her best friend's lips pressed against his self-declared rival. They stayed still in shock and quickly reeled back once they realized what just happened.

As Sakura's fist neared Naruto's head along with fan girls, she jumped into action and grabbed him by the back of his orange jumpsuit, letting Sakura's fist along with the rest of fan girls miss him.  
"You should be more careful of your surroundings Naruto!" She fllicked his forehead as punishment and then finally noticed that the class was quiet. She looked around, _Iruka-sensei wasn't here yet, why's everyone so quiet? _"H-how did you-" Sakura began before the door opened and Iruka-sensei walked in. "Alright guys quiet down...? Wait, you're already quiet?" His eyebrows rose in confusion and Asami quickly went to her seat...which was at the opposite side of the room..._Ohhh...Aww shoot! I can't believe I just used Naruto's simplified version of the Hiraishin! _Naruto had learned about the Yondaime's famous jutsu and wanted to make something similar to it. Unfortunately, there wasn't much information on it at the library so they had tried and come up with it by themselves. It took only five months due to Naruto's amazing fuuinjutsu skills, and an extra two months trying to learn it. At first, only Naruto could do it, but he taught Asami once they realized that it would be helpful if they both knew it so if Naruto was in some sort of trouble and couldn't use it, Asami could use it and help him get out and vice versa. Since they had to put the seal somewhere, they decided to put it on the back of their necks since then they'd never lose it if it was on a piece of clothing or accessory and on their necks since they couldn't lose that part of their body without dying. She covered the shameful blush on her face and tried to pay attention.

After Writing and Physical Test

"Thanks for earlier Asami-chan! You got me out of a tight spot!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head. Asami frowned slightly before sighing and smiling, it was impossible to be mad at Naruto. "You're welcome Naruto, I know you would've done the same if I ever got into a similar situation."  
"Hehe, so...Are you ready for the next test?" She nodded, "You?"

"Naruto...?"

"Yeah?"

"You didn't practice yesterday night did you?"

He started to shift back away as the temperature went down, "...No." _Please hurry up Iruka-sensei!_ Naruto prayed mentally, _I'll eat less ramen if you show up now! _The gods must've been on his side as Iruka and Mizuki opened the door and asked for a student. He looked over at his best friend and gulped when he saw the message, _I'll deal with you later..._

He sighed in relief when Asami's name was called. She had been glaring at him for the past thirty minutes as students came out either with or without a headband with Konoha's symbol on it. _She's absolutely terrifying when she's in her Mother Hen/Bear mood..._His thoughts were interrupted when Sasuke-teme approached him.

"Something you need teme?"

"Hn, how did Hakumei do that earlier, dobe?"

"Hmm, why should I tell you?" Before they could continue, Naruto found himself in a suffocating hug by Asami as she shouted out about her passing. "I passed, I passed! Naru-chan I passed!"

He cringed at her nickname for him. She started calling him that after his eighth birthday and only used it when excited. He grinned at her and laughed, "Congrats Asami-chan! I hope I pass too!"  
In all honesty, he was nervous about the next test.

He knew he failed the writing, but passed the physical. His kawamari was ok, and he was definitely going to be using Oiroke no Jutsu for henge, he smirked at the possible reactions, but his bushin...well...it was shit. They all looked sick whenever he made them and it was due to Asami-chan's help that he was able to perform a bunshin. He loved using Kage Bunshin ever since he learnt it. _Asami-chan said that when I was fighting, I was unpredictable and I should use _Kage Bunshin _when attacking and as a distraction/diversion to help when he needed time for creating his seals..._

In conclusion, he wasn't sure if he could become a genin by passing only two of the tests..."Oi, Naruto? It's your turn!" He snapped out of his thoughts and walked into the room with a shout of encouragement from Asami-chan.

After Academy

He couldn't believe it...It was really happening...

"Naruto?"

He looked up and took a deep breath before shouting, "I PASSED! I'M OFFICIALLY A GENIN!"

It turns out that he passed the writing test by one-ONE-point! Asami bursted out into laughter at her friend's enthusiasm.

"Asami." A deep voice interrupted their celebration. Both froze at the voice before Asami spoke up,

"Otou-san?! What are you doing here?"

"Is it wrong for me not to visit my daughter at the Academy to congratulate her?" She shook her head, too shocked at the reason. He focused his gaze on the boy next to her, "Uzumaki, I know you remember me so I want you to remember this, take care of her and if you ever hurt her-"

"I'll never do such a thing Hakumei-san, and you don't need to tell me that, I already know that I'll protect her."

He studied Naruto before sighing and nodding. "Asami, we need to talk." She nodded and waved a small good-bye before walking home with her father. Naruto grinned and waved back before he also left for Ichiraku.

Ichiraku Ramen

"Naruto! What can I get you?" He grinned like a fox before answering, "Hmm, I'll take 3 miso, 3 pork, 1 chicken, 1 beef and 1 seafood Teuichi-jiji!" The chef merely grinned and got to work while chatting to Naruto and listening to his story about his day. "Naruto?"

"Hmm...what's with everyone asking me a question by using my name?" he asked as Iruka entered.

"I need to tell you something."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and slurped the rest of his pork ramen. "I know that I haven't been the best teacher, but I wanted to tell you that I'm proud of you Naruto..."

"Iruka-sensei?" The chuunin smiled and ruffled his ex-student's hair before he continued. "I used to be just like you Naruto. I was orphaned when my parents both died during the Kyuubi attack and I wanted attention, so I did the only thing many kids did, I played pranks and became the class clown." He laughed at the younger male's incredulous stare.

"Oi Iruka! Mizuki's stolen a forbidden scroll!" a chuunin panted as he relayed the news.

"What?! Where is he?" Iruka shot up as he asked those questions.

"He was last seen heading towards the forest!" Naruto quickly got up and followed them. "Naruto! You can't go with us!"

"I'm coming along Iruka-sensei, I'm a genin now, and how can I become Hokage if I can't bring back a traitor?"

"Alright, just keep up kid!" The other chuunin yelled as he ran towards the forest.

Forest Clearing

"Why did you do this Mizuki?" Mizuki laughed at his former colleague's question. "Why?! Haha! Iruka, you were always foolish and pathetic! Konoha has nothing for me! If I bring this to Orochimaru-sama, he'll grant me power! Something Konoha has never given me!"

"Oh? What are you going to do with this power then?" Naruto cut in and quickly regretted when he saw Mizuki's face brighten.

"Haha, I'm going to do what the Yondaime couldn't do."  
Iruka quickly caught on, paling, "Mizuki! You can't say that! It's forbidden!" Mizuki ignored and continued, "Twelve years ago, the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, the Yondaime didn't kill it...no, he sealed it within a newborn."  
Naruto, to contrary beliefs, wasn't stupid. It was usually his obliviousness and lack of concentration. He quickly caught on with dread at Mizuki's hinting. He had the Kyuubi sealed inside of him...Mizuki laughed at Naruto's revelation, "That's right! He sealed the demon inside of you! That's why everyone hates you! You killed their families! I bet even Iruka here hates you for killing his parents!" Quickly taking advantage of Naruto's state, he threw a large shuriken, only for Iruka to protect Naruto by taking the hit. "I-Iruka-sensei?"

"Naruto, do you remember what I was talking about with you earlier?"

A nod, "Mizuki is right in saying that you have the Kyuubi sealed within you, but he's wrong with calling you a demon. You are the prison, the jailer for the Kyuubi. I wasn't lying when I said that I was proud of you Naruto. Hokage-sama made it a law punishable by death if we were to ever tell you, or anyone of the younger generation...You can choose who you want to tell..." Iruka finished his explanation and quickly felt fatigued and he slowly drifted from consciousness. It wasn't long before the forest was filled by over a hundred copies of Naruto, ready to beat up Mizuki.

* * *

**Lol wut? Hahaha if you noticed, I actually changed the kiss scene to happen earlier and I'm very sorry. I actually didn't notice until it was too late for me to fix it. Oh well, this is going to be an AU anyways do I guess I just got a bit of a head start eh? Anyways, thank you if you're still reading this! I'm one of those people who focus on either the big things or the small details so it kinda shows in my writing. Oh and one more thing, I suck at writing battle scenes. I'm serious. I'm absolutely terrible at them so I tend to cut them out if I can unless I want to challenge myself. One more thing, I'll be adding omakes to show some of the finer things like conversations I've skipped or why this and that happened. Thank you to destined to be me and xXYuseiXAkikoXx for favoriting! See ya in the next chapter!**


	3. The Beginning-Genin Days

"Speaking" _Thoughts __**Flashback **_**Summon/Demon talking**  
Next Day-Konoha Academy

Iruka finished his speech, and memorized every new genin's face once more before giving out the team assignments. "Before I tell you what teams you're all on, I want to remind you that since we have an even amount of genins, there will be one team with four genins instead of the usual three." He sighed as the fan girls who made it were eyeing Sasuke and Naruto and Asami having a mental conversation...

"...Team Seven, Haruno Sakura, Hakumei Asami," he paused as Asami and Naruto looked at each other with hopeful eyes.

"Uzumaki Naruto." A loud 'yatta!' followed by an arm pump rang across the room by both Asami, Naruto, and Sakura slumped and hit the desk with her face. "And your last member is Uchiha Sasuke." He paused as chaos erupted in the classroom. Naruto groaned, Sakura did a mini arm pump, Asami sighed, and Ino and the rest of the fan girls started complaining, leaving Iruka only one thing to do, "QUIET!" Silence quickly followed and Iruka smiled as he continued. "Your jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. Your jounin sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai. Team Ten, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji. Your jounin sensei is Sarutobi Asuma..."

Three Hours Later...

"Ne, Asami-chan? What are you doing?"

"I'm looking over a few things, Sakura-chan."

"But there's nothing on the page..."

Asami smiled, "Maybe for you, but it's full for me."

"What?"

"Hehe, it's better if you don't try to understand, Sakura-chan!" Naruto answered before he went back to working on his prank. It wasn't long before Sakura started to try and talk to Sasuke. Her attempts ended once she talked about how Naruto had no parents. Naruto went back and sat by Asami's side once he was satisfied with his work and waited for their late sensei. Footsteps sounded throughout the hallway, and the three genins wondered if it was going to work. As the door opened, a mop of silver, gravity-defying hair poked in and fell victim to the bucket of water. Naruto was surprisingly quiet, Asami hid her grin behind the book, Sasuke openly smirked as he thought, _He deserved it_, and Sakura was shocked but you could tell she enjoyed it by her green eyes. _Hmm why isn't Naruto laughing...unless! _The jounin took off the bucket and glared at the genin.

"Hmm, my first impression is-" the jounin was interrupted with a dull thump on his head by an eraser covered with chalk dust and itching powder. Once he started itching his head, Naruto bursted out laughing, and Asami also bursted out laughing after being unable to hold it in any longer. Sasuke chuckled, and Sakura giggled a bit herself.

"-I hate you all. Meet me on the roof tops in five minutes."

Rooftop  
"Ok, why don't you all introduce yourselves," the jounin basically ordered them, once his hair was rid of chalk and itching powder, "What's your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and goals or dreams for the future?"  
"Umm, why don't you introduce yourself first, sensei?" Sakura asked quietly. He sighed but complied, "I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies…" _We only learned his name..._all three genin thought similarly.  
"Ok, you're up next," he pointed to Sakura.  
"Ok...my name is Haruno Sakura. I like..." she blushed as she peeked at Sasuke, "I dislike Ino-pig, and Naruto. My dreams..." another blush and glance at Sasuke, "My hobbies..." one more blush and glance at Sasuke.  
"Ok..., your turn."  
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like Asami-chan, Hinata-chan, ramen, and my fuuinjutsu book! I dislike people who judge others without getting to know them first and the three minutes it takes to cook ramen! And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody. Somebody important! Plus, I'll be able to protect my friends! My hobbies are creating new jutsus with Asami-chan, hanging out with my friends, and eating ramen!" He finished it with a large grin and Asami smiled at his introduction.  
"...Ok, you're up."  
"My name is Hakumei Asami. I like Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan, cooking, gardening, and my ninjutsu book. I dislike people that judge others without getting to know them and people who think kunoichi are useless! My dream is to join ANBU and guard Naruto when he becomes the Hokage! I enjoy cooking, reading my ninjutsu book, and hanging out with my friends or younger siblings."  
"Hmm, you're next."  
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have many things I dislike and very few things I like. My goal or ambition is to revive my clan and kill a certain man." Sakura swooned on the inside while Naruto and Asami sweat dropped; _Well geez isn't that positive thinking? _Asami thought.  
"Alright, I'll meet you four tomorrow at 6 am at training ground seven for your test."  
"Test?!"  
"But we just took one in the Academy!" Exclaimed all four genins.  
"Well, your next test will actually determine if you're going to be a genin." He eye smiled and added, "By the way, the test has a 66% chance of failure and you probably shouldn't eat breakfast or else you'll throw up!" With a wave he shunshined away, leaving the four ex-students gaping and surrounded by an air of despair.  
"...So you wanna get ramen guys?" Naruto asked as he tried to get rid of the despair. "No way Naruto! Why should we?" Sakura asked.  
"Hmm, well it could help for our test tomorrow Sakura-chan," Asami answered as she stood up and brushed off any dirt on her cobalt skirt and followed Naruto.  
"Come on Sasuke-teme! Are you gonna come with us?" The Rookie of the Year stood up and looked at Asami's blue book. "Che, shut up dobe." He slowly walked over to the dead last and tied top kunoichi. Sakura quickly decided that she'd go along and grabbed Sasuke's arm.  
In Another Part of Konoha  
The silver haired jounin sighed as he walked down the streets of Konoha. His head was still itching despite his attempts of washing it out and he mentally cursed whoever gave the blonde it. He sighed as he thought about his potential genin team. _Naruto looks just like Minato-sensei and his pranks are like Kushina-san's. Wants to be a Hokage too..._  
He giggled at the page he read, _Ahh Jun! _He turned the page and continued analyzing.  
_Asami looks similar to Hitomi-sempai but seems much calmer. She seems to fully support Naruto in his dream and that book..._He paused momentarily as he remembered seeing nothing on the pages..._What a strange book...Naruto and Asami seem to get along with each other very well. Naruto had many pictures of them together back at his apartment and they seemed to be able to communicate silently during their time at the Academy. _He stopped walking as he thought about yesterday. He had wanted to see his potential team and witnessed emo and blondie in an accidental kiss. He almost bursted out laughing at the scene but luckily refrained from doing so and he witnessed Asami using a jutsu similar to Minato-sensei's Hiraishin, but Kakashi could tell that it wasn't.  
_So it seems that they've both decided on what they're going to specialize in huh? Asami in ninjutsu and Naruto in fuuinjutsu. They both remind me of Obito and Rin..._He shook his head to get rid of painful memories and thought about the other two.  
_Sakura is a definite fan girl of Sasuke and from her records, her strong points are mainly academic and in chakra control. If she was more focused on her career as a kunoichi she might specialize in either genjutsu or iryo ninjutsu. Sasuke...I'm not shocked that he wants to kill Itachi, but this revenge could get in the way of teamwork since he'll probably try to do everything himself and crave power. Probably would also specialize in ninjutsu. _  
He sighed as he realized that his potential team would be suited for either assassination or infiltration missions. "Well if it isn't my rival! How are you doing Kakashi?! How are your youthful students?!" Kakashi blinked before he replied nonchalantly, "Did you say something?" "Ahh! Kakashi you and your cool, hipster personality!" Both men continued on with their usual banter and soon Gai rushed off to meet his mini version who was shopping.  
Kakashi sighed as he headed home and noticed the four genin at Ichiraku Ramen. Sasuke actually seemed to be taking part of the conversation between the other three and each had a bowl of ramen in front. Sakura sat on his left and also seemed to be talking with Asami. Asami and Naruto sat next to each other and seemed to be the loudest of the four. He continued on as he thought back to the time he was on Team Minato and when Minato would drag them out to eat for team bonding even though they usually got kicked out when Kakashi and Obito fought. He smiled as he continued reading Icha Icha Paradise and giggled pervertedly at the bed scene described.  
Next Day  
"Aww! Come on! Best out of ten!"  
"Hehehe, face it Asami-chan. You suck at rock-paper-scissors!" Asami sighed as her she gave up. _Naruto has the best luck. It's impossible for him to lose when luck or chance is a factor..._She smiled as Naruto grinned.  
_I'll win someday! _Asami promised as she looked at Naruto.  
_Hehe, we'll see about that! _His grin grew as he responded back. Asami sighed as she sat down. _What's taking sensei so long?! It's been three hours since the meeting time! _  
All four sighed as they waited.  
Sasuke had arrived first and for the first hour had stood up, but after another hour, he had sat down. Sakura arrived next and as always, tried to have a conversation with Sasuke. Both Asami and Naruto arrived at the same time and were both in a deep conversation that no one could hear. They had started playing rock-paper-scissors soon after and now both leaned against each other while they waited. The man they were waiting for was approaching them at a leisurely pace and with his free hand waved and greeted, "Yo!"  
"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto yelled together while Asami stated it. "Sorry, I got lost on the path of life-"  
"You're lying," three interrupted him before he could continue with his excuse. His visible eye curved into an upside down u and quickly went on explaining their test.  
"So one of us is going to be sent back to the Academy and in order to get a bell we have to come at you with the intent to kill?" Asami quickly summarized and the jounin nodded.  
"But won't you get hurt Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked worriedly. "Hmm, he's a jounin so he should be fine, Sakura-chan," Asami answered. Although three genin could take a jounin, she doubted it since she heard what Kakashi was capable of and in order to take him down, there would have to be teamwork...  
_Wait a second! Of course teamwork! That's what the test was about! He was testing us to see if we could work together as a team! There were only three bells because he was trying to put us against each other and although teams were usually three man cells, there were four genin! If...if we worked together, we could get the bells...but someone would have to still be sent back! _Her thoughts quickly strayed to possible solutions and remembered one lesson she didn't like very much-blackmail. She thought it was an underhand tactic but knew that morals were for samurai, not shinobi. Naruto noticed his friend's silence and saw that she was thinking of solutions. Kakashi was still talking and was about to start so he did the only thing he could, he stalled for time. He quickly attacked him even though it was blocked.  
"I haven't said start yet Naruto-kun..." He smiled and quickly glanced at Asami who smiled back at him back, he saw the message in her eyes.  
_I've got a plan; make _Kage Bunshin _for all four of us and a few extra for a diversion. _Naruto grinned as he prepared himself. _This is gonna be fun..._  
"Start!"  
Naruto formed a 't' with his hands and whispered, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Taking advantage of the smoke, he henged two into Sakura, and Sasuke and silently ordered them to act like the person they looked like and hide. He knew that Asami could make her own so he didn't henge any as her. He grabbed Sasuke and Asami grabbed Sakura and they ran for cover in the trees.  
"What's going on dobe?!" Sasuke hissed once they were settled down. Naruto grinned; he loved pushing Sasuke's buttons. "Asami-chan's got a plan!" He looked over at Asami who was quickly explaining something to Sakura who suddenly looked as though she had just been enlightened. "Alright, I'll quickly tell you my plan, but I need something."  
"Something?" A nod, "Yeah. I need something to blackmail Kakashi-sensei so that we can all pass. We need something to threaten him with and I don't know what to use." Thirty seconds passed before Naruto sported a foxy grin with a twinkle of mischief in his blue eyes. "Why don't we use that?" Asami rose her eyebrow, "That?!" A nod from him and a sighed from her escaped, "Alright, what's your plan?"  
Two Hours Later  
Kakashi was, simply put it, worried. Not at the Council's threat (D-ranks for a year if the Uchiha doesn't pass), he wasn't hurt, heck he didn't even need to put down his book, from the kage bunshins Naruto somehow learned. There was nothing about him being able to use it on any of records and he didn't learn it when Kakashi was watching him in ANBU. _I bet he learnt it from Asami-chan and her ninjutsu book. _  
No, he was worried because Naruto wasn't among any of the bunshins and when Kakashi had found the "genins", he quickly found out that they were actually some of Naruto's bunshin henged into his team mates. Those also took more than one hit to dispel too. It took three hits for them to dispel excluding the Sakura Bunshin who he put under a genjutsu. It was quite the surprise when instead of screaming; "she" looked shocked and then laughed hard enough to dispel itself when "she" saw Sasuke hurt.  
The Asami bunshin was definitely the most interesting. Kakashi had used traps and she would walk right into it, but always managed to dodge every attack. It was when he stepped out from his hiding spot to look over his traps that she attacked. She had been gone when he went to check, but appeared right in front of him with a smirk and kunai along with three other Asami bunshins. "Naruto's not the only one who can use kage bunshin, Kakashi-sensei!" It was due to his reflexes that saved him being a pin cushion from the suprise attack. "Maa maa, Asami-chan. How did you get here?" He blocked a kick aimed for his face and flipped over the Bunshin. She smiled viciously, "Gomen Kakashi-sensei, but that's a secret I can't tell you yet!" She threw her kunai and quickly hand sealed, "It took me a lot to perfect this! Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" To say that Kakashi was surprised was an understatement-no-he was shocked that his eyes and mouth were wide open. The water jutsu she was using was A-rank and required a large amount of chakra! He enhanced his legs with chakra and jumped up to a high tree branch. He almost stepped right into a trip wire a bunshin put there, but was able to avoid it by switching to another tree. He checked his book and put it back into his pouch. _Don't want it to get water damage..._He sighed before he jumped off, Can't_ believe I actually had to put it away...I'll finish this fight with taijutsu. _  
Kakashi swiftly dispelled the bunshins. He found out that the bunshins were from Naruto by the leftover chakra but the Asami bunshins were from her interestingly enough. He checked the alarm clock and there were only thirty minutes left. He mentally chuckled when he felt Naruto's chakra signature approach him. _Seems like they're starting to get serious..._He did a quick kawamari with a log and smiled.  
However, the smile didn't last long when he noticed that he was surrounded by traps. He decided that he didn't want to be impaled by the swinging logs or a pin cushion for kunai and shuriken. He stopped immediately when he saw Naruto waving at him and then he started to mouth something. Every shinobi was required to know how to lip read, but when Kakashi read the word that Naruto was mouthing, he felt dread..._Boom..._He heard the sizzling of explosion tags and leaped right before it exploded. He saw Naruto pout when he escaped and had to dodge when Sakura tried to grab the bells. _A diversion? _He felt the ninja wire he just tripped and watched as Sakura and Naruto grinned while he was bombarded with kunai and even more explosion tags. Of course, Kakashi wasn't a jounin just for show and swiftly blocked any kunai and dodged the tags. _Where's the other two? _  
His question was answered by a large fireball from Sasuke (Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu) being propelled at him by a wind Jutsu from Asami (Fūton: Daitoppa). There was little he could do other than quickly kawamari with a rock. He eye smiled when he saw their disappointed faces along with a heavily breathing Sasuke and Asami.  
"That was close but," he paused as the alarm rang out and the genin slumped in defeat, "Time's run out!"  
3 minutes later  
Asami looked at Sakura who had been tied to the pole in pity and guilt. She felt that it was partially her fault that Sakura had been tied up. Kakashi had justified it by saying that she didn't do much other than trying to distract him. She looked down at her bento and decided that she would apologize to her with food even if Kakashi told them not to. _Well he's not here right now so it should be fine. _She held out her bento to the pink haired girl and smiled slightly. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan. I should've thought of a better plan so that you would've been involved more." Sakura shook her head, "It's okay Asami-chan, and you can have it. I'm not that hungry anyway and Kakashi-sensei told you not to give me any." Her words were proved untrue when her stomach rumbled and a blush quickly followed.  
"It should be okay Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, "He's not here right now and plus you're still growing so it's not good for you to not eat anything and diet." He finished his little lecture with a small smile he only used when he wanted someone to feel better and held out his bento too. Still, the girl refused and both mentally sighed.  
_I guess she's not gonna budge huh? _Asami thought as she looked at Naruto. His eyes slid to the side as he responded, _No, I guess not. _He looked at Sasuke and quickly realized that perhaps if he offered her some food that she would accept despite how insulting it would be to him and Asami. Asami must've understood what he was thinking since she also used a jutsu they created together.  
Sasuke didn't care much about Sakura since he wasn't the one tied to a stump and although he hated his older brother, he still remembered the lessons he gave to Sasuke when was younger about fan girls. The trick was to not ignore them, but to still show that you had no interest in them while still being polite. He ate his bento slowly as he thought about the stupid test Kakashi put them through to show that they could work together as a team.  
He scoffed, he didn't need anyone, he only needed power and hatred to defeat his brother. He then made the mistake of looking over at his teammates and became the victim of the puppy eye jutsu from both Naruto and Asami. Although he was an avenger, he still had a soft spot for cute things-hey he was only 12 years old! He sighed as he got the message and shoved his bento to Sakura's face. "Eat it Sakura, it's not gonna do us any good if you're weak and starving." Asami and Naruto both smiled brightly at him and mouthed thanks to him. He rolled his eyes and tried to squish the feeling of happiness growing in his heart by reminding himself that he was an avenger and he didn't need anyone. It was too bad that a small voice whispered to him that he did need friends.  
He hated that part of him.  
That was the seven year old in him that was still naive and wanted to be loved by his father. It made him feel weak and actually want to seek out people like Naruto to confide with or to laugh with. His thoughts were interrupted when a dark cloud appeared from nowhere and Kakashi's voice was heard.  
"You all..." Asami and Naruto stepped in front of Sakura even though they were terrified and Sasuke felt his own body copying them.  
"Pass!" A moment of silence passed before Asami, Naruto, and Sakura yelled out in confusion while Sasuke's mouth dropped in shock. Kakashi eye smiled as he explained to them why they passed. "Although you four worked together to try and get the bell, it wasn't good enough. But since you all offered Sakura-chan some food even though I told you not to, you still showed that despite failing, you'll still cover each other's back." He paused as realization set into their faces before he continued. "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."  
_Wow, _Asami thought in awe, _Kakashi-sensei may be a pervert, but that was...really inspirational..._She smiled, _He's kinda cool..._He pointed to the memorial and explained to them that all names on there were names of heroes. Naruto grinned as he told everyone how his name along with Asami's would be on there. "Naruto, those are the names of shinobi who died in action," Asami explained to him slowly and he paled and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at her. _Whoops, sorry Asami-chan. I didn't mean that we'd die or anything, just that-_he stopped as Asami smiled and shook her head in understanding. _It's okay Naruto, I know that you meant that we were both gonna be heroes and plus it's not your fault you didn't know. _The Kyuubi jinchuuriki smiled at his childhood friend.  
"We'll meet again tomorrow here at the same time before we get our D-rank mission," Kakashi continued noting that two of his students were having another conversation no one could hear. All four smiled as they left with Naruto inviting them all to eat at Ichiraku Ramen. Sakura sighed as she agreed and Sasuke nodded silently with Asami grinning. The four continued onwards and Kakashi silently swore he saw them when they were older. Naruto in the middle with Asami on his right followed by Sasuke and Sakura on his left. It was the Hokage with his ANBU captain, Hunter-nin captain, and his medical/genjutsu specialist. He smiled at the sight before sighing when Sasuke and Naruto started fighting and the girls took their respective sides. He looked at the memorial before sighing once more; he had had a lot of work to do. He was about to shunshin when Asami turned around and yelled out if he was going to come with them. He eye smiled before nodding and followed his team.  
He liked the sound of that, his team. He smirked when he thought of the reactions he was going to receive from the other jounin and the Hokage.  
At the Hokage tower  
To say that the jounins were a bit pissed and irritated was a bit of an understatement. A few actually wanted to castrate the missing jounin while others were fingering their kunai and wondering how much troubled they'd get into if they decided to make him into a pincushion.  
It wasn't a very friendly atmosphere when the man they were all waiting for strolled in with his infamous book in front of his face. The man eye smiled and greeted them with a "yo" and went to stand next to Asuma and Kurenai. He ignored the killing intent from his fellow shinobi which only grew when he giggled at his book. Sarutobi sighed as he watched his jounin behaving like children before he cleared his throat. The killing intent instantly disappeared when they remembered where they were.  
Unlike his jounin, Sarutobi knew why Hatake was late. He was eating with his genin team and later spent a bit of time at the memorial. He mentally smiled, he loved that little glass ball, it was quite helpful for watching Naruto or finding out what his always late jounin was doing. He waited for Iruka to start asking which teams were passed and smiled when he heard that Kakashi had passed Team Seven and looked nonchalantly (although there were signs of a smirk underneath the mask) despite his fellow jounin's reactions. He dismissed all of the teams that didn't pass and had the ones that did stay behind.  
"I would like to know what you three envision what your team might specialize in beginning with you Kurenai-kun." The new jounin nodded and proceeded on telling him that her team would specialize in tracking and listed her reasons why. "Shino's insects would be perfect for tracking targets and Kiba would be able to track their locations and lastly, Hinata has the byakugan which would also be helpful for spotting them and watch out for any ambushes." Sarutobi smiled before asking Kakashi.  
"I think Team Seven will probably specialize in either infiltration or assassination. Asami specializes in ninjutsu and seems to have a variety of them at the top of her fingers. Sakura doesn't have as much chakra as the other three but she would be very good in either iryo ninjutsu or genjutsu with her almost perfect chakra control meaning she could help in tough situations. Sasuke will probably awaken his sharingan soon and he'll probably specialize in ninjutsu but much more deadly than what Asami might use. He'll also be able to move much faster with his sharingan too, perfect for assassination missions. Naruto has the most chakra and the most endurance. He's shown that he'd like to specialize in fuuinjutsu." _Although he didn't use any during the test, _Kakashi added mentally. "He also seems to utilize kage bunshin as well." The Hokage smiled at Kakashi. He always had a soft spot for Naruto and Asami when she befriended him. Although he noticed that Kakashi's explanation for Asami was much shorter than even Sakura who came from a civilian family. "Hmm why is Asami-chan's explanation shorter than your other students Kakashi? You also said probably quite a lot." He finished with a raised brow and the other two jounin also looked at their fellow friend.  
Said man sighed as he answered, "Well Team Seven doesn't exactly seem very stable and might try something new as they could really do what they want. As for Asami's short explanation," here he mentally smirked, "There's not much other than she has a book of ninjutsu which she reads from regularly and that she'll always stick by Naruto's side. I believe she has a large chakra level like Naruto from her mother and is also a bit of the peacemaker in Team Seven. She talks fondly of her friends, namely Hinata and Naruto, and of her younger siblings, but seems to not get along with her father very well, however she seems to be trying with her father. She enjoys gardening, cooking and loves sweets. She hates waking up early and is only a morning person on special occasions. She most likely knows about Naruto being the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and accepts that fact. She has suspicions about Naruto's parentage, but has yet to tell Naruto them. She and Naruto both communicate silently and both seem able to work together as a team. She believes that Naruto will become the Hokage and wants to be his guard or ANBU captain once she's older. She-" Kakashi stopped when he noticed that the occupants in the room were inching slowly away from him and Sarutobi's eyebrows were raised in either shock at what he knew or curiosity at how he knew so much.  
He eye smiled and was about to continue when Iruka's head grew larger and he started yelling at Kakashi and accused him of stalking Asami. Asuma's cigarette fell from his mouth and Kurenai quickly started glaring at him while Sarutobi stayed quiet but you could see his eyes twinkling in amusement. Kakashi was only able to tell them that he knew that from listening to her tell her teammates when they went to eat at Ichiraku's. He sighed as Iruka calmed down, _It's always the quiet ones, _he mused silently as Iruka glared at him one last time before Asuma explained what he thought about the future of his team. As they left by shunshin, Sarutobi sighed in exasperation at the leaves left over, _Why couldn't they just use the door?_ and got up from his chair to look at Konohakagure before turning his attention to the Hokage monument and looked at his predecessor's face. _So she had suspicions about Naruto's parentage huh? _  
"Hokage-sama?" He turned around and waited for Iruka's question, "I remember once that Asami-chan came and asked me if the Yondaime had relatives...Is it possible that Naruto is related to him?"  
If it wasn't for Sarutobi being a shinobi, his face would've shown shock. _How could she have thought of that? _His gaze drifted back to the monument and smiled once he realized, _She must've noticed the similarity between Naruto and the face of the Yondaime..._His smile grew larger when he realized that a young girl was able to connect something 99% of Konoha's population was unable to, including the shinobi and sighed as he wondered if he should tell Iruka the truth. He looked back at the chuunin and told him the partial truth.  
"The Yondaime was an orphan and the only woman he loved died during the Kyuubi attack." Iruka nodded and bowed as he left to prepare for his classes. He didn't like withholding information but some things were better left unknown. Plus if the population knew of Naruto's heritage, although he'd be loved as the son of the Yondaime, Minato had many enemies, especially in Iwa and a few in Kumo. Of course he'd tell Naruto, but it would be when he was much older, preferably already a jounin, when he learns about his parentage since he'll be able to protect himself. He always felt like a monster seeing Naruto's pleading face to tell him about his parents and wanted to comfort the boy when he thought his father was a missing-nin and walked out on his mother who he thought was a prostitute. He was still furious at the civilians who told him that and at those who shunned him even though he tried to give Naruto a normal life. There wasn't much that he could've done for him though. He really hated politics. It was because of politics that Naruto couldn't be adopted or shown more care for by Sarutobi himself. As Hokage, he wasn't allowed to show favoritism. He knew the civilian council wanted Naruto dead and that Danzo wanted Naruto as a weapon for Root even though he'd justify it as doing it for the good of Konoha and her people. Oh yes, he knew about Root, despite what Danzo thought, he knew that it was still alive and that it was Danzo's way of trying to get power to usurp him from the position of Hokage.  
_Ahh yes, I can't forget about that._ He went back to his desk and continued writing something he had been working on. He pulled it out and quickly started writing, ignoring the stacks of paperwork undone. It was his will and a bit-well actually, a lot of information for the next Hokage. He knew that he was getting old and that from Jiraiya that Orochimaru was starting a new ninja village. He knew that the next Hokage, who he hoped was Jiraiya, Tsunade, or even Kakashi, would be able to deal with what the shinobi world would throw at them. He knew that there was going to be a Fourth Great Shinobi War. He wasn't called the Professor for nothing after all.  
However he didn't know what the opposing sides were and he always wondered if perhaps the shinobi nations would unite under one symbol and fight together against a large threat. There were many things pointing to that happening. There was word of an organization capturing bijuu and a new Daimyo in Ame...He also kept on thinking about Hashirama's fight with Madara which led to him thinking about the Uchiha, and then led to him thinking about Itachi who was gathering information on this new organization.  
_Hmm perhaps the five shinobi nations would unite together with perhaps the samurai and fight for not just their respective nations, but for each other...Perhaps it'll be called the Shinobi Alliance and they are fighting against the organization...Akatsuki I believe its name was, and that's being led by some crazy maniac like...hmm Madara or somewhat similar to an Uchiha gone mad and they are trying to..._  
He paused as he thought a bit more before returning to his original train of thought.  
_They are trying to bring back the Kyuubi-no the Juubi to...to put the world into a genjutsu and tell everyone that it'll make the world a better place with peace worldwide and they'll have help from..._He turned and looked at the Nidaime before getting an idea..._They'll get help from people that are dead and revived with Edo Tensei and there'll be a large battle where Naruto arrives fully synchronized with the Kyuubi and mastered sealing and the sage arts and-_He sighed ruefully and went back to writing.  
He mentally berated himself for thinking of such silly things, after all, in order for all that to happen, many other things would need to happen such as some crazy maniac, although there are plenty of those in the world, they aren't strong enough to do such things unless they were Uchihas and there's only two left. He sighed and continued writing before thinking about Naruto's love life. He stared at the growing paperwork and thought about doing that but decided that he didn't want to so he pondered about whom Naruto would end up with.  
_Perhaps Asami-chan? They are very close and have known each other since they were eight, but they seem more like siblings with Asami-chan acting like the older and Naruto the younger. Asami-chan always does seem more mature than her classmates other than Shino-kun or Hinata-chan. Hmm the ex-Hyuuga heiress maybe? I've heard that she has a large crush on him and they would make a cute couple. Her all shy and him out-going but still kind and sweet. Hmm, she'd help him with things like learning about politics while he'd help bring her out of her shell and give her confidence. _He smiled as he thought about the potential dates but frowned once he thought about Asami. _What about her? _  
Overtime she had become like a granddaughter to him and it worried him that she didn't have much of a thought about her romantic life. Sure it's great that she's not a fan girl and obsesses with marriage, but she still should have some thoughts about boys right?  
Sarutobi wasn't quite sure as he only had sons and even his daughter-in-law wasn't much of a girly girl. Heck, neither was his deceased wife! He sighed as he thought of potential husbands, yes husbands-he was skipping over boyfriends for now... (What?! He was protective of his family okay!)  
_Anyways..._He thought back to when he had asked her back when she was eight years about the man she would like to be married with..._Hmm how about Sasuke-kun? Hmm, no I don't think it would be a good match. Sasuke-kun wants to revive the Uchiha clan so that means lots of babies which means multiple wives and I know Asami-chan wants to be the only wife. Plus he's quite cold too, I want her to be married to someone who's not so angsty. Hmm Kiba-kun then? No, although I'm sure she'd love the dogs, she would prefer someone who has manners. Shino-kun has manners, but he like all of the Abarames, are very quiet and she likes a guy that talks to her. What about Chouji-kun? He's kind, has manners and isn't angsty. Ah, but I think she'd have a hard time adjusting to life with the Akimichi since they are all...pleasantly plump and although he's very kind, she's spent a lot of her time with assertive people and prefers someone who doesn't care about telling her the truth. _  
_How about Shikamaru-kun? I'm sure he's as smart as his father and he's got manners along with being somewhat friendly. Although just like everyone else in his clan (except for his mother) he's lazy. Not a good match when she loves to tumble around and train with Naruto whose stamina and endurance is much larger than even an elite jounin's. Hmm perhaps someone older then. How about Neji-kun? Hmm no they wouldn't get along very well from what I've seen of him. She'd get annoyed of his attitude about fate and she already knows that he doesn't get along with Hinata-chan which isn't very good. Plus he can be quite arrogant at times. Hmm what about his teammate Lee-kun? _  
He shuddered and quickly shook his head. He'd rather she marry someone who wasn't as...exuberant and had such a strange fashion sense along with the eyebrows...He shuddered again at the thought of babies with large eyebrows and toddlers yelling out about youth. No, he had enough youth from Gai and Lee. He sighed. It seemed as though there weren't any eligible bachelors perfect for Asami. _Who to choose, who to choose?_  
**Whoa...Dat irony! XD Lol, I'm sorry! But I told you I sucked at irony and humor didn't I? Hahaha...sorry I couldn't resist the temptation. ****Oh, and you're very welcome to be destined! It's the least that I can do for one of the first favorites! Thank you for giving me a chance!**And another thing you readers are probably thinking, what's with the monologues?   
**Yeah sorry but I like writing what my characters are thinking. Right now, I'm thinking that Sasuke's still got that inner child within him that he tried to get rid of because I think that it's impossible for you to not lock away a part of you when you're hurt. In this case, it would be the seven year old who loved his aniki and wanted to impress his father along with the suppressed emotions such as the happiness that he tries to get rid of too. Sakura is just a fan girl but I promise that she will change into Shippuden Sakura much faster. I absolutely loathe fan girl Sakura but I love mini-Tsunade Sakura. Yeah I like it when females kick ass (sorry for the language in this by the way) and take names while wearing heels. I'm sorry if Naruto's a bit OOC but his life isn't as lonely like in canon since he's got Asami. Don't worry; he'll still be that lovable fool that you know you secretly love XD. He'll just be a bit more conservative/smart in certain situations. Friends are great, but they shouldn't change who you are. **  
**I must admit that this was going to be a Kakashi love story but I noticed how OOC I wrote him and I also couldn't help but think about another guy that I love-Gaara. So yeah, this is gonna be a Gaara love story but the love comes at The Middle and The End. Sorry if you wanted it to be a love story right away but I want this to be somewhat realistic. Asami is a plain character with a somewhat tragic past, but I wanted her to be strong but still kind and compassionate. Heck, I might even turn her into a crybaby if I need to. I just wanted to make her special without those silly sob stories and strong but realistic. I've seen and heard strange things in the world of fan fiction. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! See ya in Wave!**


	4. The Beginning-Wave Mission

"Speaking" _Thoughts__**Flashback**_ **Summon/Demon talking**  
Konoha  
"Target has been sighted, I repeat, target has been sighted."  
The young genins quickly got into position as the prepared to catch their target and swiftly surrounded it with practiced ease. It was silent before the blonde haired boy had enough and jumped at the cat. It wasn't long before he was rewarded with scratches on his face and orange jumpsuit. Asami sighed before she smiled at her friend's impatient behavior and decided to help him with Tora. He sighed in relief before sticking his tongue out at Tora before receiving a large bump on his head from his other female teammate. The last member rolled his eyes at the actions, used to how his teammates acted with each other. The action didn't go unnoticed by the blonde. "Oi! Something wrong teme?!"  
"Hmph, it's nothing dobe," Sasuke replied with the Uchiha sneer. It wasn't long before Kakashi found his genin fighting...again. Although, to be honest, he actually looked forward to the fights. Sure the man was well known and liked, but he didn't socialize much other than with a few of his peers and his students. He eye smiled as he approached to stop them from bickering when Asami decided to be peacemaker.  
"Alright!" She quickly hit both boys on the head, "I think that's enough now boys. Come on, we have to head back to the Hokage's tower to return Tora back to Lady Daimyo." Both crossed their arms before glaring at each other one last time before they started walking towards the tower.  
"Wait for me Sasuke-kun!" Sakura quickly ran towards the two boys leaving Asami behind with Tora purring softly to follow.  
"Yo! I take it that you four are finished?"  
"Yep! That was nothing Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto replied with a thumbs up. Kakashi mentally shuddered as he saw the resemblance between his student and Gai. He nodded and they went to the tower to report their success.  
At the Hokage's Tower  
"TORA-CHAN!"  
A large woman quickly enveloped the now struggling cat into a suffocating hug. Naruto almost felt bad for the cat before he remembered the scratches.  
"Alright, congratulations on your success Team Seven," the Hokage announced. The genins all either smiled or smirked at this before it faltered when Iruka started listing off possible D-ranks. "Alright, you can take care of the Yamada twins, weed the Nagasaki's lawn, carry some shopping bags for-"  
"Aww come on Iruka-sensei! Isn't there anything else that we can do?!" Naruto interrupted. Asami tilted her head to the side.  
_I wonder if we can do anything more than a D-rank. After all, _she looked at her teammates and smiled a bit as Naruto was yelled at by Iruka, _D-ranks are supposed to help genin teams develop teamwork, although I suppose we've got it somewhat..._Her thoughts were interrupted as the Hokage started asking if they wanted to take a C-rank mission. "B-but they haven't done the amount of D-ranks needed, Hokage-sama..."  
"...Do you think your team is ready to take a C-rank?" Kakashi nodded and the Hokage looked towards Iruka and asked for a mission scroll. "This C-rank is a mission to Wave. You'll be accompanying a bridge builder back to his home. This is a simple escort mission. Could you send in Tazuna-san, Iruka-kun?" Once Iruka left to retrieve the builder, the genin were all buzzing with emotions.  
Sakura felt worry pile in the bottom of her stomach as she waited for the man. She had been reading iryo ninjutsu scrolls ever since Asami had suggested that she try impressing Sasuke with her skills. Although Sakura had a small amount of chakra, her control was close to perfect and she had decided to learn both genjutsu and iryo ninjutsu. She wasn't too worried since she knew that Sasuke would save her if she got into a dangerous situation, but somehow, a small voice had started whispering that maybe he wouldn't do anything unless she was able to impress him. She looked over at her hopefully future husband and felt a tug of jealousy towards her female teammate who he was looking at.  
She fidgeted with her skirt and wondered if Sasuke noticed her new skirt or her new perfume...So far, only Asami and Naruto had noticed while Sasuke didn't even stand close to her. _Perhaps he's just playing hard, Okaa-san did say that boys would sometimes play hard to get..._Sakura knew that she wasn't ready for C-ranks just yet. She could barely use the most basic healing technique! She worked on her iryo ninjutsu first since she heard that unless she did a genjutsu technique properly, it won't work. She also concluded that perhaps some medical information may be helpful for genjutsus. She sighed as she looked over at the last Uchiha.  
The Uchiha himself wasn't worried at all; he was excited at the prospect of being one step closer to fighting his brother. He watched as the dobe continued babbling to Asami about some new technique he was currently teaching to some brat while she would interrupt to ask questions or nod for him to continue. He was confused as to why she would want to talk to the dobe. The dobe wasn't an elite shinobi like he was and he could only conclude that it was because Naruto was hiding something that would make her talk with him.  
Now don't misunderstand why he was thinking about his teammate so much. He had no romantic feelings for her and he had no intention of ever growing feelings for her. He only knew that she had a book of ninjutsu...something that would be very useful for him when he trained to battle Itachi. He had thought about asking her to show him it but his pride as an Uchiha wouldn't let him ask her out right, so he resorted to subtle hints. However,(a small tick formed on his face) the girl was either oblivious as hell or she was deliberately ignoring him...He had even tried to peek from over her shoulder, but the stupid dobe got in the way and started annoying him. He couldn't understand, and probably never would understand how a girl thought. He held himself back from rolling his eyes when he felt Sakura look at him. He called it the 'fan girl look'. He mentally sighed; yep...he would never understand women.  
Naruto was also excited. It would be the first time he would get to go outside of Konoha's walls. This would be the first step to becoming a Hokage for him. _I can also finally get to use my seals for the first time in an uncontrolled environment! _His grin faltered slightly when he remembered back when he didn't even know how to do the most basic jutsus, much less how they could have been done due to how his teachers basically ignored his education because of the Kyuubi sealed inside of him. He felt Asami's hand on his shoulder and smiled to show he was alright. Despite what everyone thought, even he could get a bit depressed at times. He was glad Asami was his friend, his first friend! Without her friendship, he wouldn't have gotten the fuuinjutsu book, he wouldn't have passed the Academy or genin test, and he wouldn't have learned about friendship, or even ramen! She even believed in him and that was more than enough for him. They both taught each other so much. Her about child games or lessons he skipped while he taught her about the cruelty of adults and the joy of pranking. He was going to succeed in their first C-rank and gain recognition from Konoha, whether they like it or not! His grin grew larger as he recalled his lessons with Konohamaru. _I need to show him how a woman really looks once he actually gets her to look good...I wonder if I can sneak into one of the bath houses..._  
Asami, simply put, was nervous. She had a feeling like their first C-rank was going to be one they'd remember for the rest of their lives, but she had no idea why. Naruto was talking about how Konohamaru was calling him boss and teaching the Oiroke no jutsu when she quickly saw that his eyes slightly dulled like whenever he was sad, and she quickly put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Naruto smiled back and she relaxed slightly. She viewed Naruto as a younger brother along with her other teammates. She had always thought of herself as the oldest from being raised up to be expected to act as an adult. That was one of the few reasons why she could relate to Hinata so well. Although they were raised differently, they were both the oldest and experienced the death of their mother. It also helped that they also enjoyed cooking and gardening too. Asami also knew of Hinata's "secret" crush on Naruto and did her best to push those two together, but that was much easier said than done. Hinata's life was controlled by the Hyuuga Elders and they weren't allowing her anywhere close to Naruto or anywhere without a bodyguard ever since the Kumo ambassador tried to kidnap her. It also didn't help how Naruto didn't see any other girl other than Sakura until she was able to convince Naruto that Sakura was no good for him. However, she was quite proud how she was the link that allowed them to first meet. She looked at the door when it opened and immediately smelt sake. The man was old and had a bit of a flush. Her first impression of the man was not the best. "So these are the ninja I hired to escort me home? Bah! They're just a bunch of kids! Just look at the two shorties!" Asami's smile was now a slightly more forced and she could just hear Naruto's thought process as he fisted his hand. They were both the shortest and it was a sore spot for them...Kakashi quickly interrupted before Naruto could get himself in trouble. "Don't worry Tazuna-san, they are fully qualified genin and I'm a jounin myself." The bridge builder humphed, still not believing them but going along since he did pay for them. "Now let's meet at the front gates in two hours, ja ne!" Kakashi waved and shunshined, leaving the genin to go home and pack for the two week trip to Wave.  
Three hours later...  
"Argh! Where is he?! It's already been an hour since he told us to meet here!" Sakura yelled as she vented out her frustration.  
The genin had been stuck with the old man and had tried starting a conversation, but it was starting to go downhill when he commented on Naruto's height. Asami was trying her best at being a peacemaker, but that was quite hard when she felt like doing some serious damage to the man herself. The only thing stopping her was that the man was now considered as an ally they would have to protect and one of the shinobi rules was that you should not harm an ally/comrade. Sasuke wasn't talking to anyone and was standing still with his hands in his pockets. Hey, he had a reputation to hold ya know! However, if you were to look closely, you'd see that there was a growing tick mark on his forehead. Although it had been a week since they first met, Kakashi was always late. When they asked why, he only replied that it was a great way to teach patience. When the man finally arrived, everyone was irritated and tense. "You're late!" They yelled at him only for him to make an excuse and quickly usher them to hurry out of Konoha before it got too late.  
On The Road  
"So what's Wave like Tazuna-san?" Asami asked out of curiosity. Although she had been out of Konoha before, she had never gone out of the Fire Country. As she mentally took notes and filed all the information away, she noticed a puddle. _A puddle? But it hasn't been raining for the last few days...Unless! _She quickly looked at Naruto who nodded his head. He had noticed too. She smiled slightly. _It seems like those "I spy" books weren't for nothing after all..._They both read "I spy" books every now and then for practice and played the game themselves so that they'd notice things better. They continued on, but were both ready for action. When chains shot out of the puddle and wrapped around their sensei's body, both sprang into action. Although both were initially shocked at seeing such a horrible fate for their sensei who they had started to like, they had to protect their teammates and Tazuna. Sasuke must've also understood as he and Naruto worked together on one guy while Asami took on the other guy by herself with the help of a shadow clone. Sakura was still in shock but took out her kunai and stood in front of Tazuna while her teammates battled for their lives.  
Although Sasuke and Naruto were rivals, they worked together well. Naruto would use his seals to teleport and aimed at spots that were going to disable while Sasuke would use his fire jutsus and burn the man. In the end, they had won and the man was knocked out. Asami had a bit of an easier time in her fight since her back up was, well her clone. Although she didn't have as much chakra as Naruto, she was still able to make a maximum of five. She quickly sealed and whispered, "Suiton: Suishōha." It created a vortex of water with her chakra and allowed her to move it at her will. Although it was created by the Nidaime who only needed to clap his hands, Asami wasn't that strong and had to sign extra hand seals. Her clone, understanding what the original was about to do, also signed and whispered along, "Raiton: Rakurai." The vortex combined with the lightning summoned and with extra chakra pumped in, was made to mess up his heartbeat while numbing his body to give her extra time to throw her kunai on ninja wire for a follow up. The man saw the vortex of water and lighting and dodged, but it was relentless and followed him. She threw her kunai at him as she saw his claws which were coated with poison. She knew better than to get up close and personal in this fight. She saw as the man fell to the vortex and quickly threw her line of kunai strung on ninja wire when her hand was stopped by another's. She looked up and saw Kakashi. Out of pure shock, she stopped and heard a cry of pain from the man when Kakashi dealt the killing blow himself.  
"Kakashi-sensei?" Asami called out softly. The man eye smiled and Asami smiled back tentatively. She was a bit scared about what she was about to do to the man before Kakashi stopped her. _I...I would've killed him..._She was scared. She didn't want to kill. She knew that it would happen eventually, but she didn't want to kill right away...  
"Good job everyone! I saw nice teamwork from you two," he directed it to Sasuke and Naruto before he looked at the girls. "Good job on protecting the client Sakura. Asami, good job with combining water and lightning." Both nodded and Kakashi looked over at Asami who was talking silently to Naruto. He made a mental note to talk to the girl later and focused on Tazuna. After asking as to why chuunin leveled ninja were attacking them, the man gave up and told the truth. Kakashi looked at his genin, he knew they'd still want to continue with the mission but still asked anyway. "Of course we're gonna continue Kakashi-sensei! I can't become Hokage by backing down!" Naruto answered. He nodded and looked over at Sasuke who nodded back. He looked at the girls again and Sakura nodded as she looked over to Sasuke for approvement. She sighed when he didn't acknowledge her. Asami smiled, "Of course we'll continue! Like Naruto said, I can't protect the Hokage by failing my first C-rank!" He nodded, "Alright Tazuna-san. It seems like we'll continue then." The man smiled and nodded his thanks. They continued and as they approached the shoreline, Tazuna called out to another man who would be taking them across in his fishing boat. They stayed quiet but for different reasons.  
Naruto was looking around like a child in a candy store having never seen so much water surrounding him. However, he was also looking for any signs of an ambush. He was also mentally going through his equipment and made a note to see if he could store water inside a scroll so that Asami wouldn't tire out too fast from having to use her own chakra and turn that into water for her Suiton techniques. Although they saw him as the younger and her the older sibling, he still looked out for her. He didn't want her to get hurt. He looked over at her and worried a bit. _She's really quiet. Usually she'd be fussing over me or something. _He shuddered at remembering her in her mother hen mode._ She must've learnt it from Iruka-sensei...although she's a lot more scary...Hmm maybe she's quiet because I didn't help her out. _He shook his head. _Nah, she's not like that. I took the other guy because whenever we were training, we always took on different clones and we'd end up back to back where we could watch each other's back. Hmm maybe I'll ask her later. _  
Sasuke was watching the dead last look around in wonder and thought about the fight earlier. _He actually used seals during the fight and the look on his face...it was emotionless like Itachi's. Who would've thought that the dobe actually knew something other than pranking and being an idiot? _Sasuke was actually also surprised that they were able to work together pretty well when they were always at each other's neck previously. During the fight, Naruto had taken the job of physical damage while Sasuke used ninjutsu. _Almost like he's done it before! _He quickly thought and looked over at Asami. She also used ninjutsu as a primary attack! He narrowed his eyes at the dobe. _The dobe's been training with her! Since when? _Sasuke didn't like being weaker than a dead last. He had always used Naruto as a way to compare his power. _Has he been playing me for a fool?! _He decided to deal with it later as it would be dangerous to cause a commotion where they were. _Maybe we'll be able to fight on equal terms someday, like what Itachi and Shisui used to do..._The seven year old in him whispered silently. Sasuke was going to shove that part of him away when it whispered something else. _Naruto is the first person to see me not as the last Uchiha, but as me, Uchiha Sasuke. He's an idiot but he's always smiling...I want to smile too. I want-_He quickly shoved the voice away. He knew what it was going to say. It wasn't true. He...he didn't want Itachi back. _Itachi's a cold blooded murderer. He was never really my brother. I-I hate him! _He heard the voice laugh and whispered more traitorous words. _Maybe Itachi had a reason why he killed everyone...maybe he actually really loves me...maybe-_he sighed as he cut out the voice and instead thought of ways to kill Itachi. That always made him feel better.  
Sakura felt horrible. She had frozen when she saw her sensei's body ripped apart by chains. She came to the awful conclusion, she was useless. Her medical Justus were of no use and she hasn't even started on genjutsu at all! She sighed as she looked at her teammates. They all leapt into action, even Naruto-the dead last! However, she was starting to think that maybe he wasn't such a dead last. She had read a bit about what fuuinjutsu was and read that it was hard to master. She had compared herself to Naruto, always knowing that she'd do better, but now she wasn't as sure. She wanted to impress Sasuke! She can't impress him if she's not better than the dead last! _That's right cha! We gotta do better than Naruto! _She smiled at her Inner Self in agreement. She'd continue training privately and she'd show everyone what she can do! She looked over at her female teammate and her thoughts went down. _Maybe I'll do better than Naruto, but could I do better than Asami-chan? Sasuke-kun keeps looking at her like he wants something from her...What does she have that I don't? I'm sure that my hair's longer than hers and I was with Sasuke-kun a lot more than her...hmm is it her outfit? _She looked over and checked out her outfit. She didn't see anything special about it. Asami wore a sweater over a simple blue dress with a high collar, short sleeves, and it went to her knees. She also wore regular shinobi sandals too...Hmm she really didn't see what was so special about her outfit. Her hair wasn't much either. Sure it was naturally wavy, but she left it into two low ponytails and it went below her shoulder blades. _Maybe her eyes? No, although violet eyes are rare, I have green eyes which are rare in Konoha. Maybe it's just because she's going to specialize in ninjutsu like him...Hmm I'll ask her a few questions later. _  
Asami was quiet because she was scared. No, not of the water, but of what she did during the fight. She was scared of killing people. She heard from her mother about how people's eyes would turn glassy and their body cold and limp. She knew all of that from comforting her mother whenever her father was away and couldn't do it. She hugged her mother and listened to her nightmares. She had nightmares about her time in ANBU and from the Third Shinobi War. As her mother sobbed, she'd talk about the death of teammates and comrades. Asami was young and from the stories she heard, she learnt that war wasn't pretty, it hurt a lot, and that she wanted to become a kunoichi so that she could protect her precious people and prevent war. She wondered if Naruto could bring peace to the Shinobi Nations. She wondered about the future, what it would bring, and what it would take away. She was tempted to take out her book and read but knew better even though it would help calm her down. She sighed, she didn't like feeling depressed. It made her feel...angsty and Sasuke-ish. She knew it was stupid to be scared of killing people, but she didn't want to get used to it. Despite what one of the shinobi rules said, she didn't want to feel nothing. She still wanted to feel happiness, love, sadness, and pain. She didn't want to be a killing machine with no emotions. She wanted to be a human and feel things. After all, robots and machines break down; however, the human heart and soul live on, even after death. She wondered if Kakashi felt anything when he kills one of the Demon Brothers. She looked over at her sensei and smiled at him when his visible eye turned to a familiar upside down u. She had grown to like him as a teacher over the last week. Sure he didn't do much other than taking them out on missions, but it was after missions that they learnt the most about each other. After they finished their missions, they went to eat at Ichiraku's. They always sat at the same stools and ordered the same things.  
Kakashi next to Asami who sat next to Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke sat next to each other and although the two would trade snide remarks at each other, everything went nicely. It had also become a game to see Kakashi's face. The boys betted that his lips were really huge or his teeth were while the girls betted that his face was just like any other person's face or he was really good looking and that was why he hid his face. Asami and Sakura got along alright but Asami always felt as if there was some sort of wall separating them. _Maybe once we get back, I'll talk to her and figure out what's wrong, we are both girls and I don't want to lose a potential friend..._Kakashi had been thinking about the earlier fight himself. He had noticed the puddle right away along with Asami and Naruto's observation about it. He had use kawamari with a log to watch how his students would react. Of course, if his students couldn't handle it, then he'd step in. He looked over at Asami. He had stopped her earlier because he knew that she wasn't ready to kill yet. He hasn't done much but go on missions with them and eat out but he did give out important things to remember. He hadn't planned how to tell them about killing. Minato had simply told him to kill a rabbit when he was younger and he did it without hesitating. _Maybe I should do the same thing. I already used the bell test from him so why not do the same thing to teach them about killing. _Kakashi knew that the girls along with Naruto would have a hard time and as for Sasuke...well he wasn't sure. Sasuke was the variable that could change the team. There were many paths that he could choose and Kakashi wasn't sure which one he like the best. In all honesty, Kakashi knew that the ones he could teach were really only Asami, Naruto, and Sasuke. He didn't have anything to offer Sakura. His chakra control was good and all, but he wasn't a genjutsu or medical specialist. He knew some basic fuuinjutsu for Naruto and the rasengan but that was it other than maybe teaching him a bit about his element affinity. Asami and Sasuke were easier since they were both ninjutsu and perhaps kenjutsu specialists. He was thinking about teaching Sasuke chidori and Asami some basic kenjutsu.  
As for Sakura, he thought about teaching her first aid and letting her explore a bit by herself until she chose if she wanted genjutsu or iryo ninjutsu. He'd also need to teach them tree and water walking. He sighed, being a teacher was tough, especially when your students were so different.  
Tazuna looked around. He heard that Gatou had sent Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist. He thought of Tsunami and Inari back at home. He hoped that Inari would behave. He smiled as he thought of dinner... (What? You can't have everyone pensive. It gets depressing and full of hard core angst).  
After the boat ride, everyone was deep in thought and when a sound was heard at a nearby bush, four kunai instantly shot out. When they found a poor rabbit half scared to death, the girls naturally cooed over it until Asami realized that the coat of the rabbit was still white even though it was already summer. It would only be like that if it was kept in captivity..._A distraction!_ Asami grabbed Tazuna and Sakura while Naruto did the same to Sasuke and pushed them down a second before Kakashi yelled for them to get down. Asami looked up and saw a man whose face was partially covered in bandages. "Well, well, if it isn't Sharingan no Kakashi..." He scanned over the others and smirked when he saw the bridge builder. "Move out of the way and let me finish off the old man." He finished the statement with a large dose of killing intent and the genin quickly felt fear for their lives. "As flattered as I am at being known by the Demon of Mist, Momichi Zabuza, I can't let you do that." Zabuza smirked in satisfaction; he wanted to fight against the famous ninja. He signed his famous technique, Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu, as Kakashi lifted up his forehead protector, showing his sharingan eye. "Don't worry guys, no matter what, I'll protect you."  
Tazuna's House  
The four genin entered the house while carrying their unconscious sensei. A young woman greeted them and quickly directed them to a spare bedroom when she saw the state of the jounin. The boys nodded and hurried to the room while the girls bowed their thanks before introducing themselves and asking if they could do anything to help. The woman smiled and introduced herself as Tsunami and told them that she was about to prepare dinner in two hours. The girls nodded and promised to come and help her before hurrying to their sensei's side. As they entered the room, they saw Kakashi tucked in on a futon and still unconscious. Sasuke and Naruto sat on the opposite sides and the girls sat next them, Asami next to Naruto and Sakura next to Sasuke. They were still slightly in shock from the earlier battle. Kakashi, true to his word, had protected them and even told them to run when he was captured inside a water prison. Of course, they refused and with Naruto's quick thinking, came up with a plan to free Kakashi. Each genin had added their own part. Asami had told them about the technique and how it would only break if the user decided to break it, or if the user had to move since it was a short ranged technique. Sakura had come up with the idea of using an attack which was really a diversion. Naruto had decided to use Kage Bunshin with Sasuke's large shuriken. Sasuke, of course, decided to throw the shuriken. It was quick and simple, but in the end, it worked. Asami had decided to break the silence when she remembered the strange hunter-nin.  
"Hey," she began as she became the center of attention, "Don't you guys think it's weird?" At their puzzled looks, she elaborated, "You know, the hunter-nin? Something seems a bit off..."  
"Hmm, now that I think about it," Sakura began as her analytical mind started thinking about how hunter-nins worked, "I'm pretty sure that hunter-nins are supposed to get rid of their targets immediately...I wonder why that guy didn't..."  
"Maybe the guy was working along with Zabuza?" Naruto suggested. Sasuke nodded, although he didn't want to agree with Naruto, it seemed like the only logical solution. After a brief moment of silence, Kakashi's tired voice broke through, surprising the four. "I think you guys are right in that deduction. Good job you four," he praised with a small smile. The four beamed at the praise they received. Although Kakashi read porn books, he was still a great jounin sensei that they respected. Kakashi raised an eyebrow in disbelief.  
"Something wrong Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.  
"Hmm, just thought that you guys would at least try to look under my mask..." At that statement, Naruto and Sasuke shifted slightly while the girls looked disappointed at missing an opportunity, they didn't remember about looking under his mask. Naruto laughed weakly, "Yeah! We would, uh, never do that Kakashi-sensei!" _Naruto..._The remaining genin thought as they witnessed their teammate's bad lying. Naruto's grin faltered as he rubbed the back of his head. _Hehehe...whoops, guess that didn't work huh? _Naruto and Sasuke had tried to look under his mask, but gave up when after taking off five masks, there were still more. He stopped when he remembered a new seal he had created after their third Tora mission. "Hey could you guys do something for me?" He asked with seriousness and hesitation. He wasn't sure how they were going to react to his proposition. "What is it?" Asami asked. Naruto smiled as he took out three similar looking seals. "I was wondering if you guys would carry these seals." "What kind of seal is it?" Sakura asked as she looked at the slips of paper curiously. "I-It's similar to the Hiraishin," at wide eyed looks from everyone he quickly explained his reason. "It's just so that I can quickly teleport to your locations should I ever need to. It's not exactly the Hiraishin by the Yondaime but it works like it. Before we came here, I was thinking about what if one of you guys got in a tight situation and no one knew where you were. It was then that I remembered the Yondaime's famous jutsu, the Hiraishin. I created something similar to it for me and Asami-chan so that we can both use it, but I can't do that for all of us."  
"Why not?" Sakura asked.  
"Well I guess you could say that the seal is like a bridge. Both of us can use it, but if I were to add more links-"  
"Then other people could try using it and it would probably backfire on us right?"  
"Yeah that's it. I also tried adding your chakra signatures to them, but I can't do more than two people unless I'm really vague like say that it'll only work if the user is male. And if I did that, then almost anyone could use them which makes it useless." After a moment of silence, Sasuke accepted followed by Sakura and Kakashi. Asami didn't need one since she already had one on the back of her neck. Naruto smiled and quickly went to work, transferring the seals from the slips of paper to their skin which faded away leaving no marks.  
"But what if you got into trouble or a life and death situation, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, worried about not being able to save a teammate when they could still save you. "We wouldn't be able to come to your aid except Asami and it'd be pointless if she was also unable or in trouble." Naruto smiled weakly, he was happy that his sensei cared about him, but also sad that he had so little trust in his abilities. "Well that would be troublesome as Shikamaru would say, but let's just hope that I can fix it so that it'll recognize your chakra as well, and until then," he paused and looked at Asami, "I guess Asami-chan and I will just need to be careful ne?" Asami smiled and knew that Naruto would be able to fix it. He always tried to do his best and protect everyone precious to him.  
As dinner approached, the genin went downstairs to help prepare dinner, leaving Kakashi to rest. The jounin sighed as laid in exhaustion. He was still shocked that the dead last of the academy was able to transfer something on paper to another object. The only ones who were able to do it so easily were Jiraiya and Minato. He smiled, _Minato-sensei, you're proud of him right now aren't you? Already learning fuuinjutsu and A-rank techniques like it's nothing...I bet Kushina-san is also proud of him too. Hitomi-sempai's probably also cheering on for Naruto and Asami too. _  
He smiled as he remembered when he was newly installed in ANBU and Hitomi was the only one to treat him not as the student of the Yellow Flash or the son of the White Fang, but as himself. She was the one who gave him the first book of the Icha Icha series as a gag gift, but he quickly fell in love with it and she just chuckled while patting his shoulder and told him that maybe a new pervert had just been born.  
Next Morning  
"Alright, I want you guys to climb up the trees for today," Kakashi told his students as they looked at him with raised eyebrows. "But we can already do that Kakashi-sensei...Unless it's using chakra instead of climbing by hand." Kakashi smiled as demonstrated that they did indeed have to use chakra to climb. As the genin got in front of the trees, it wasn't long before Sakura and later Asami were finished. Kakashi then decided that he might as well teach them water walking and get it done and over with. However, he stopped Asami and told her to follow him. Asami was slightly disappointed as she wanted to use the time to talk with Sakura, but wanted to also know what Kakashi wanted to say. _Maybe it's about the Demon Brothers..._  
Asami sat down across from her sensei once they stopped at a small clearing with small white flowers blossoming. She wondered if he stopped there to try and reassure her with the presence of flowers. After a few seconds of silence, Kakashi decided to talk. "Asami, do you know why I'm talking to you?"  
"Not exactly, but I think I have an idea as to what you might wanna talk about Kakashi-sensei." He nodded and took a deep breath, he wasn't really sure how to do this, but he was going to try. "I wanted to talk to you about the Demon Brothers with you. I know that if I didn't stop you, you would've had your first kill right there and then, and I know that none of you are ready to kill right now." Asami nodded hesitantly before she decided to confide in her sensei. "I...I don't want to kill...at least not yet. I know that I'm going to have to kill someone sooner or later, but I want to be prepared before I do so." Kakashi nodded, she was a fresh genin and shouldn't have to kill anyone right now. However, he was confused as to what she meant by being prepared to kill. She was a shinobi now, and shinobi had to always be ready to kill. He must've let out more emotion than he wanted as she quickly clarified. "My mother told me that every ninja has a special way of dealing with stress and kills. She told me that shinobi did that to remain sane from all the killing they had to regularly do. Her way of dealing with stress and killing was to spend time with her precious people...When I told her I wanted to become a kuniochi of Konoha, she told me that she wanted me to think of a way to deal with the stress and kills." She plucked a small flower and tied to other flowers as she kept her head down. "Have you thought of anything you might like to do?"  
"Well, I've thought about spending time with my precious people like her, but most of them are shinobi too. I've thought of reading, but I didn't want to read all the time after a mission. So far, I'm trying to use cooking as a way as I'd be using my time wisely since I'd be making something to eat, but I don't always have access to cooking." "So what are you going to do then?" "...I thought about maybe training when I can't cook since that'd also be useful with my goal."  
"To protect the Hokage?" She shook her head and looked up to meet slate gray eyes.  
"No...My other goal..." She paused as she wondered if he would laugh at her like her father did when she told him. Her eyes slid back down to the small chain of flowers as she considered telling him. _He did try to help me by talking it out even though he's not really a social person...I...I guess I can trust him just like Naruto. _She had told Naruto after her ninth birthday since she didn't want to keep any secrets between them. He smiled brightly when she told him and promised that he'd do whatever he could to help. "Asami-chan?" She looked back up once she realized that she had just zoned out for a bit and blushed. "I...I want to master all five elements..." After a long moment of silence passed, her shoulders sagged a bit as she thought he was silently laughing at her or was waiting to see if she was just joking...She felt her eyes water, why did no one give her a chance to prove herself? She took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face. "Hahaha just kidding! I know that it's impossible to try and master all five elements! Well, I should head back to Sakura-chan and start water walking! Thanks for talking to me Kakashi-sensei! See ya at dinner!" She got up and brushed away any dirt on her skirt and waved good-bye as she sprinted back. Kakashi was going to stop the girl but realized that he should wait a bit before he spoke to her again. He sighed and got up. He didn't mean to offend Asami. He was shocked, yes, but he wasn't going to make fun of her. _Must've had a bad experience when she told someone the same thing. _It was the only reason he could think of as to why she reacted the way she did. Every shinobi knew that it was impossible to master all the five elements, the only one to do so was the Sage of Six Paths. _Well, maybe she could do it. There's always someone who will prove everyone wrong and show them that they could do the impossible. _He looked over to the flower chain Asami had been working on. It was unfinished so he couldn't tell if she meant to leave it so or if she was going to make it into a crown or necklace. _Let's see, so I have a fan girl who might turn into a medical/genjutsu specialist, a future Hokage who loves the color orange and has the Kyuubi sealed inside of him, a girl who wants to protect said Hokage and master all the elements, and an avenger who wants to kill his older brother. _He groaned as headed back to Tazuna's house, his muscles were still slightly sore and his chakra reserve was barely back. He looked at the chain and decided to bring it along. It might be a good way of apologizing to the girl. _Back to watching them train..._He pulled out Icha Icha as he made his slow journey back to the house.  
Konoha Two Weeks Later  
Team Seven slowly returned to Konoha after their C-rank which then turned into an A-rank mission. As they approached the large gates, Asami and Naruto were slightly sad at seeing Zabuza and Haku's death since they were good shinobi, just mislead, but their resolve to protect those precious to them were stronger. _I won't let your deaths go be in vain Haku, Zabuza..._Naruto silently vowed as he looked over at his teammates.

Sasuke had activated his Sharingan after protecting Naruto from senbon and it seemed as though they were slightly closer after the fight and Asami and Sakura also were much closer. Sasuke was proud that he activated his Sharingan. He didn't like how That Man had activated his earlier, but at least he did activate it. There was always the possibility of an Uchiha not developing the famous dojutsu and they were usually the shame of the clan. They either became citizens or part of the Konoha Police force. _One step closer to my ambition...And another step closer to having friends, _a little voice added. Sasuke ignored it, but made note of the comment and the small smile he had on.

The girls had broken the wall between them when they had talked about their feelings towards their teammates. Sakura later found out that Asami had absolutely no interest in Sasuke other than becoming teammates and she quickly bonded with the girl once she promised to stop hitting Naruto and tried to get along better. _It'll be hard, but I'll do my best to not be the weak link in our team! _

Their respect for Kakashi improved greatly and although Asami and Kakashi's relationship wasn't the best, he had apologized to her which was helpful in repairing it. Kakashi looked over at the red haired girl and smiled back when she did the same. Asami had accepted the apology once Kakashi promised not to tell anyone until she could prove it and if he taught her some jutsus that he knew. The man accepted, he could keep a secret. What kind of shinobi couldn't keep a secret? As for the jutsus, he wasn't sure what he could teach her. The chidori would be of no use to her since she had no way to help pinpoint her target and accurately kill them, so he decided to write down all the jutsus he thought the girl could do. He regretted not being able to teach her directly since he was going to nominate them in the Chuunin Exams and he decided that he would teach Sasuke since he could benefit more. They had helped with the building of the bridge and Tazuna had named it after Naruto since he had saved Tsunami and Inari along with protecting him. Surprisingly, the rest of Team Seven-namely Sasuke and Sakura-didn't mind. As they returned from the Hokage's Tower, they headed to Ichiraku Ramen to celebrate their success...

**Lol the ending is waaay too rushed. I think I got bored of the Wave mission. I've seen it so many times now that I'm kinda starting to get sick of it...sorry Wave mission enthusiasts! I know I should add more since I didn't include the bridge battle, but nothing changed. Asami just stayed back with Sakura and I didn't really want to go into so much detail on something ****everyone**** knows. The Wave Arc, although important, isn't really something I'll be using much in the future so it really serves no purpose other than fixing a few things and adding in other tidbits of information. The next chapter will be the Chuunin Arc (plus some omakes) which will start to include a bit more romance and although I will be cutting A LOT of battles since for now everything's going to be canon with the addition of my OC, I will do my best even though I suck at battle scenes. Thank you to moonlightjasmine for favoriting and for the reviews I've received! I'm really grateful and motivated now! Anyway, see-told ya my Kakashi stinks. I just can't seem to get him into the aloof and perverted character he is. Gah! He's like Gai! I like them, but they're so hard to write! Anyways, since this won't be a Kakashi love story, I was thinking about pairing him up with Shizune when she shows up. Anko will go with Iruka in this fic. No, I don't have anything against gay couples, I actually have a lot of yaoi stories I like but I want this fic to be realistic so that means that there's a 10% chance that a guy's actually going to like another guy. I will post up my pairings list and the reason why so that no one gets a heart attack when I introduce a new couple. Alright, last thing, yes I killed off Zabuza and Haku. Heck, I didn't even show Haku and Zabuza only got a few lines! Darn it, I'm rushing through a lot-sorry! For this fic, there will be some characters that I spare from their fate in canon while I let others join the Shinigami. Sorry again, but thanks for reading this! I'll try and work on it if I can think of anything, but until then!-See ya! I'm gonna go find my Panda-chan now...**


	5. Pairings List-AKA Rant Session

**Edit: ****7/23/2013**** 8/18/2013**

There are now more definite pairings and less uncertain pairings! For those who don't want to know all the details: ShinoxIno is now showing therefore anything with either will not show, LeexAyame is no longer being considered and will not show up, LeexOC is possible but won't be ranted about, ChoujixOC is possible but also won't be ranted about (I'll think of OCs if I have to), and no Clan Restoration Act for Sasuke!

Sorry, this isn't a chapter, but I said that I would post up my pairings list and explain why. There'll be an omake after this while I work on the next arcs. I'll be slowing down more to not abuse using omakes and to show more details when they're needed. Thanks for reading!

Definite Pairings That Will Show Up:

Pairing: NaruHina (NarutoxHinata)

Reason: Okay so the truth is, I've always been a NaruHina fan ever since I saw how Hinata had a crush on Naruto. I also don't think Sakura deserves Naruto since she's always hitting him and scolding him. Hinata on the other hand, does her best for him. She gives him her medicine in the preliminaries, lets him cheat off her test, shares the same nindo, AND she rushed out to save Naruto during Pein's Invasion-something no one else did! Yes she's very shy but once she gets her confidence, she'll bloom into a beautiful flower! (That wasn't cheesy at all was it?) It's because of Naruto that she got some of her confidence and nindo from. She's the light needed to make a flower grow and Naruto's the water that helps it bloom. Naruto needs a girl who's strong and confident but at the same time, very caring and 100% loving.

Yes I know that Kushina told Naruto to find a girl like her, but I don't think Kushina wants her son to be in a relationship where he gets hit and scolded like a dumb puppy every time he does something wrong. Plus, I think she meant a girl who's confident in her abilities and very loving. Naruto may look like his dad, but I think he acts more like his mother. Hinata is similar to Minato in that she would sacrifice herself for everyone and is much calmer. Hinata has loved Naruto unconditionally from the beginning of the series and right now in chapter 617, Naruto may be starting to reciprocate her feelings. And if he doesn't and goes for Sakura instead...Kishimoto should probably hide for a few days or years. There's a reason why a majority of fan fics are NaruHina and why most of the fan base celebrated and cried in chapter 615. Sorry for the Sakura bashing in this rant by the way. I know it's mean but it is the truth from what I've seen. Sure she's nicer to him now, but I still loathe NaruSaku. If she wanted him, she had the chance, but no-she only looked at the zirconia instead of the diamond. All's fair in love and war and she lost her chance in my books a LONG time ago.

Paring: GaaAsa (GaaraxAsami)

Reason: Spoiler Alert! Please don't read this unless you just want to see my reason why and you've already read most of my chapters. If you haven't, please skip to the next pairing and reason!...Alright, anyone reading this should have already finished the fic or chapter...

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Lol tricked ya! Sorry but I will tell my reasons why he's paired up with my OC in the story so this is pretty useless XD. I do have some pretty good reasons so don't worry! I've got a plan so no worries! On to the next pair!

Pairing: ShikaTema

Reason: Yeah I'm pretty sure you're not on a date with Temari, Shikamaru. You're just showing her around right? Psh! As if! Lol, I've also always been a shipper of ShikaTema. So what if she's older than him by three years? Shika's pretty mature and a lot smarter than his age group. Plus I love their interactions with each other. They just go together like a jigsaw puzzle. I know some people pair him with Ino but I think that she's just a bit too bossy and she didn't really take her job as a kunoichi seriously until the end of Naruto where she asks to be taught by Sakura. Anyways, another reason is purely instinctual. I get this strange feeling like they're just meant to be...Yeah I know it's a stupid reason but it's the truth XD. Plus I've seen lots of amazing fan art and that really helps too. Lol this one was pretty short.

Pairing: NejiTen

Reason: Yes I know that Neji is dead...Damn you Obito, Madara and Juubi. Well despite his death, I've always thought of the two as a cute possibility. I get the feeling that TenTen had a crush on him and I thought that since Neji only respects those that he believes are strong, she's got a much better chance since she's always taken her job as a kunoichi of Konoha pretty seriously. I know that some have paired her up with Lee but I just don't see it happening. She would fit better with Neji since they both abhor the youthful hugs between Gai and Lee with the sunset. Gai-sensei! Lee-kun! XD Since she's also a teammate, she also has a higher chance of getting to know the guy and vice versa so they both know each other pretty well and he'll probably start talking to her soon. Lol I would scream, yell, and curse at Kishimoto but if I did, then who would finish Naruto once fans who liked Neji were through with him?

Pairing: ShIno (ShinoxIno)

Reason: Lol I actually read a really sweet story between the two. One of the author's reason was that you can't spell Shino without Ino XD. Another thing was that insects are good for flowers since they can help with pollination. As of July August, these two are now officially showing up! Yes, I'm aware that this is a crack pairing, but I can't really put them with anyone else and they do seem quite cute together. Of course, now I have to find out how to deal with heirs/heiresses along with other Clan problems... Joy! (Please note the sarcasm)...

Pairing: IruAnko (IrukaxAnko) hmm maybe I should change the name to AnkoIru instead...

Reason: Lol I find this pairing cute and interesting. I never have been a KakaIru shipper since I've never read any fics but I also think that Anko would snatch him away once she had him. Sure Anko would be wearing the pants in the relationship, but I think that Iruka wouldn't mind. Iruka would also have an easier time dealing with Anko's personality since he's patient and strict when he needs to be. XD He's gonna be having one hell of a week when I-oh wait! Haha sorry, almost spoiled my own story XD! You're just gonna have to wait and find out! Mwahaha!

Pairing: AsuKure (AsumaxKurenai)

Reason: Hmm, I know that this is pretty much canon, but I just wanna clarify something just in case. Kurenai will always love Asuma and Asuma only! Well at least in this fic...So even if I let Asuma die, she will not find another man and the same thing for Asuma if I decide to reverse the roles of who dies. Yeah, um I can't really explain this pairing other than that it's canon and she's pregnant with his kid which may or may not be a girl.

Uhh Maybe They'll Show Up?

Pairing: KakaShizu (KakashixShizune) sorry, not sure if that's how you're supposed to spell it...

Reason: None particularly. Lol XD sorry but if you've read one of my author's note then you'd know that this was originally a Kakashi love story, but I scrapped that idea after reading how OOC he was and after I started thinking about a few things like why didn't he help Naruto when he was a kid or why did he ignore him once he got onto his team and push him onto Ebisu during the Chuunin Exams. Yeah my opinion of him kinda went down slightly despite him trying to fix that in Shippuden, but it's been slowly rising up once I think more and more ^_^. Anyways, I've read a few where these two get paired up with each other and others where Kakashi gets paired up with: Iruka, Naruto/Naruko (what? They're pretty good...), Anko, Sakura, and of course Shizune. For Shizune, it's usually Genma, Kakashi, and once Gai. Although both are bachlor/bachelorette's in the show, I want them to both be in a relationship. I might use these two and I might not since I'm really not sure.

Pairing: SasuSaku (SasukexSakura)

Reason: Another **very** popular pairing among the fan base and fan fiction other than NaruHina. I really don't know about these two. On one hand, they could make a pretty good couple, on the other hand, they could potentionally ruin each others lives along with others. Sasuke isn't really good in my books right now and unless he goes back to Naruto's side _and _apologizes for being a stuck up jerk and *insert string of bad words that I really shouldn't call him but instead of saying, I just cover it up so the fangirls don't come after me*. Yes, I have read the newest chapters and I have seen his declaration of becoming Hokage (Haha, go home Sasuke, you're drunk XD).

Sakura's got some of my respect, especially after smashing White Zetsu's face into the ground (yay!) and when she showed off her newest skill, Tsunade's little diamond. Unfortunately, she doesn't have all of it because of-wait-sorry but I'm supposed to be talking about why they should be a couple-not pointing out and ranting what I think about them. Anyways, I don't really read a lot of SasuSaku fics since if you hadn't noticed earlier, I really don't have much love for either of them. I will however, try my best to make them a happy couple and try to fix what I can (Go damage control!). I've thought about him using the Clan Restoration Act, but in the end, it will not be happening.

Pairing: LeeSaku (LeexSaukra) Hehe confused?

Reason: Lol don't worry, I can explain myself! Like I said, these are just possibilities and I don't mind it that much. This is just if Sasuke will go bad or decides to date with someone else. For this pairing Sakura will eventually fall for Lee and his youthfulness XD. I may decide to change his looks and show that as his commitment to Sakura that he's willing to change his looks for her. Like I aside earlier, this is just a possibility. They may or may not show up depending on how the story turns out.

Pairing: ChouAya (ChoujixAyame)

Reason: Lol this is a pure crack pairing I thought of. Since I wasn't sure if he and Ino went together, I thought to myself, hmm who should Chouji be paired up with? Then I remembered Ayame from Ichiraku Ramen. It could be a good match since she cooks and he eats XD. Once again, this is purely crack but I'll consider it.

Pairing: KakaSaku (KakashixSakura)

Reason: Gah please don't hurt me! it's a possibility! The two are pretty much left behind in canon and there are many fics of these two. I'm not a huge fan of the two together but I've seen it done really good. I'll consider it just like every other pairing.

Pairing: YamaSaku (YamatoxSakura)

Reason: I read it in a very sweet story and I thought it was adorable-really! It was pretty sad, but so sweet. It was a time-traveling fic and it's called Life Revised by elinyan! It's a KakaNaru too, but like I said, I don't mind yaoi. Anyways, I thought that maybe the two together would be really nice since he has mokuton or wood release and Sakura's name is the same as the sakura tree…yeah I like sap (no pun intended) and fluff. It makes me feel warm and fluffy! So yeah, I'm going to consider this pairing too!


	6. Omake 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto unfortunately; I only own my OC and the Arcs I'll be creating. A small thank you to those who are still reading this and for Rose-Thorn98, destined to be me, moonlightjasmine, polysemic842, and xXYuseiXAkikoXx for favoriting!**

**Naru-chan!**

Hokage Monument

"Ne ne!

Do you have a nickname Naruto-kun?"

"Hmm? What do ya mean Asami-chan?"

"Well, since we're friends, I was thinking about giving you a nickname ya know!"

"What about you?" Naruto asked his friend.

"Hmm, actually, I don't think I really had  
any nicknames except for what my mother used to call me as a child." They had  
just celebrated his birthday by doing an oath and hiding from a mob looking for  
Naruto. Naruto was still new to the friend thing, but he had a feeling that  
this was what friends were.

They stood up for you, they lied for you, they protected you, and last of all, they  
loved you for who you were. He thought that this year was definitely the best he  
ever had. He wasn't running away from people trying to hurt him, his house  
might be broken into and painted with mean things, but he just found a new  
friend, his first one ever to be exact. Then he got awesome goggles from the  
Old Man and Iruka-sensei was starting to actually try and teach him along with  
trying to get along better.

"Hey, what do you want your nickname to be Naruto-kun?"

"Hmm," he sat up as he thought about his answer. He remembered seeing someone call  
another guy Boss and it sounded kinda cool.

He grinned, "How about Boss/Naru-chan?" both said at the same time. They stared at  
each other for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. "Hahaha Naruto-kun!  
I don't think I should call you that! It makes you sound like you're the head  
of a yakuza or something!"

"Hahaha, yea well maybe so, but I think Naru-chan is a bit too much! I mean, I'm eight  
years old! Plus I thought Boss sounded pretty cool!"

"Nah! Naru-chan is perfect for you! It's short and sweet!" Naruto pouted at the short  
part but blushed and smiled at the sweet. "R-really?" Asami nodded her head.

"Yep! I like Naru-chan better!" And thus, the whiskered boy's new nickname was  
forevermore, Naru-chan.

**Father and Daughter Reconciliation**

Konoha

Asami walked beside her father and started fidgeting. The two weren't on the best of  
terms and although she had resolved to follow what she wants, she was still  
worried that he was going to give her a lecture of some sort. As silence  
reigned, she sorted her thoughts. She didn't hate her father. She didn't like  
what he thought of Naruto, but he was still her father and the man who read her  
bedtime stories as a child. He comforted her when her mother died and although  
he didn't spend as much time with her, she knew that he didn't hate her either.  
The girl sighed, she didn't mind thinking but she wanted to know what her  
father wanted to talk to her about and she was losing her patience.

"What did you want to talk about Otou-san?" The man stopped and looked at his oldest.  
His once chestnut brown hair was already starting to show gray and his blue  
eyes were filled with weariness and sadness.

"Asami, I know that we haven't exactly been on the best of terms, but I just wanted to  
know why...Why did you want to become a kunoichi like...like Hitomi?" The man  
said his deceased wife's name with pain. He truly had loved her and although  
they both had busy jobs, he had done whatever he could for her. He could've  
still married, but he refused all of the proposals. He had one love and that  
was Hitomi, and he had no intention of ever loving any other women. Nobou  
looked at his eldest and although her hair was darker than Hitomi's, he still  
saw the strength and unconditional love that made him fall in love with his  
wife in the first place.

"...I want to protect Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan along with all of those dear to me.  
I wanted to be like Okaa-san," the girl replied with a small twinkle in her  
violet eyes. Nobou was shocked. He had thought that she wanted to be a kuniochi  
in memory of her mother or to impress the Uchiha boy in her class. _I suppose I was  
wrong...about her. She's just like Hitomi after all. _He smiled and did a rare thing; he patted his daughter's head. Asami froze as she comprehended what her father  
just did. "Otou-san?"

"Forgive me Asami for not trusting you and Naruto-kun. Perhaps we can try again?" The  
young genin paused and after thinking that it'd be nice to be closer with her  
father, agreed with a bright smile. The two continued on their way, ignorant of  
the commotion in the forest.

**A Game of Ninja**

Konoha Park

"Alright, so the goal of the game is to win by defeating the other side."

"That's it?"

"Yep! Do you wanna be the good guy or the baddie?"

"Hehe, I'll be the good guy!"

"Alright then Naruto-kun! Since we can't really use any jutsus because we don't know any, we can just tumble around with each other!" The blonde haired boy raised his eyebrow. The girl smiled and then quickly tackled him.

"H-hey!" Naruto cried in suprise. "That's not fair Asami-chan! We didn't even say start yet!"

Asami grinned as she pinned Naruto down. "Hehe, that's because I'm the bad guy! Baddies don't care about rules! Plus, we're ninja! Not samurai!" She was about to stand when Naruto rolled to his left and brought her along.

"Maybe, but we can still do our best to honor each other!"

"Hmm, alright, but I'm still gonna do my best as the baddie!" For three straight minutes, the two children tumbled and tickled each other mercilessly. Once Asami got up, she quickly ran away and the game quickly turned into tag which then turned into hide-in-seek. Naruto looked around for a bit before he spotted her signature dark red hair in the bushes. He pretended to be lost and walk around a bit before he launched his attack.

"Haha! I got you Asami-chan!" Naruto cried out as he tackled his friend from behind.

"Eek! Aww, I was sure I did a good job at hiding! Oh well," she coughed a bit before she continued in a low and childishly spooky voice, "You may have gotten me this time Naruto!-But I will win next TIME!" Said boy raised his eyebrow before they quickly broke out into laughter at Asami's failed attempt to sound terrifying. "Hahaha, let's play this again tomorrow Asami-chan!"

"Hahaha, alright! Maybe once we start learning jutsus and become ninja we can practice together Naru-chan!" Naruto nodded his head, he couldn't wait until then! But for now they'd play Ninja and practice together until they graduated.


	7. The Beginning-Chuunin Exams Part 1

"Speaking" _Thoughts_ _**Flashback**_ **Summon/Demon talking**  
Konoha  
"OI! Get back here Konohamaru!" a blonde yelled out as the Sandaime's grandson ran past laughing with his friends, Moegi and Udon. The scarf loving boy grinned even wider. He had the best Boss ever, _Not that I'd ever tell him, _the boy added. Both of his classmates were only tagging along to hear more about the genin Konohamaru had been talking about but they soon saw why. They were also enjoying themselves but Moegi silently vowed to thump the boy on the back of his head once they were safe. Konohamaru looked back at his friends and yelled out breathlessly, "Quick! He's catching up!"  
"Let's use the cloak and hide!" Udon gasped out. The three nodded and Konohamaru quickly pulled out a cloak with the pattern of a fence and the three turned around a corner and hid.  
The blonde jinchuuriki continued forward and silently cursed in his head. He was absolutely sore from yesterday's training with Asami and had completely forgotten about her lesson with locking his door and windows. He also used seals, but after an accident where Team Seven decided to wake him up...let's just say that he learnt his lesson about staying up late reading scrolls about sealing even though he had to wake up earlier after being Sakura's guinea pig for her medical jutsus. He was going to change the seals to allow only Team Seven in but he had fallen asleep as soon as he laid down on his bed. He woke up to see Konohamaru's grin with Gama-chan dangling from his hand and two other kids eating his ramen! He quickly got up but before he could even tackle the boy, some horribly made smoke bombs were thrown, leaving him in a coughing fit for a bit before he ran out after the boy. _I guess it's a good thing I didn't change out of my clothes! _The genin thought before he crashed into Asami who was carrying grocery bags.  
"Whoa! Naruto?! What are-"  
"Sorry Asami-chan, but I gotta get Gama-chan back!" the boy cut in as he continued his search. Asami sighed as she looked around. Her eggs were cracked and the new milk she had just bought was spilled. She slowly got back up and analyzed what her friend had just said before rushing off. _Wait? Gama-chan's been stolen?! Shoot! He must've forgotten to lock the door! _The girl quickly made a kage bunshin before rushing off to find the thief and make them pay dearly for it. She wasn't going to let some thief get away with it! Asami rushed off looking for her friend and found him staring at a fence being covered badly by a cloak.  
"Naruto?" She was about to continue when she heard a small voice come out from behind as it was thrown off.  
"Hahaha! You found me Boss! You truly are my rival!" _Eh? Konohamaru-kun and his classmates? _The boy was about to continue when a tick formed on the orange haired girl's face and her fist met his head as she scolded him. Naruto grinned as the girl apologized and glared at her friend before she gave him his wallet back. The older boy would shouted out in happiness at being reunited with his precious wallet and was about to lecture the young boy when the boy swiped it out of the older's hands and ran away while blowing a raspberry. "Sorry Boss! But I gotta go!" The remaining stood in shock before Naruto quickly ran after the boy and yelled out. Asami smiled and shook her head, _Just another day with Naruto I suppose..._and rushed after the two. Both genins stopped when they turned a corner and saw Konohamaru bump into someone wearing a dark purple suit with a hood that looked like cat ears.  
"What was that for brat?" The stranger continued his threat by lifting up the boy by his long scarf. "That hurt you know?"  
"Stop that, you'll get yelled at later!" a blonde haired girl carrying a large fan warned him.  
"Konohamaru!" Naruto was about to run forward and save his little friend but was stopped when Asami held him back. "What-let go! I'm going to-"  
"Save him yes, but check your surroundings first!" The blonde fought back and inevitably tripped over a hidden string.  
"Whoa! Hey let Konohamaru go!" He shouted from the ground as he blushed in embarrassment.  
"Hmph, why should I? The brat ran into me-" He was cut off when he let out a small yelp as he clasped his wrist and dropped Konohamaru. "What the hell?" Naruto got up and smirked as he held up a string which glowed a brilliant blue.  
"What? Did you really think that I'd be stupid enough not to notice your puppet techniques with the chakra strings?" Konohamaru quickly got up and ran as the strange boy glared at Naruto.  
"You little-"  
"Kankuro, stop that." At the name, the boy stopped and immediately froze in fear.  
"G-Gaara..." Both Naruto and Asami's heads turned up to see another boy with bright red hair and green eyes outlined in black. The boy jumped down from the tree and walked towards.  
"You're making a fool of yourself and the village. Stop it or I'll kill you..."  
"O-okay, I-I'm sorry. I was wrong."  
The boy looked at the Konoha genin and apologized, "I'm sorry about that." Despite the apology, however, his voice was unchanging, along with his face which showed no emotions.  
"How long are you going to stand up there Sasuke-teme?" Naruto asked as he heard a "hn" in reply as the Uchiha jumped down from the tree. Naruto smiled when he noticed the pebble the Uchiha had dropped. _So I guess even if I didn't notice the string, he would've thrown it at Kankuro huh? Hmm, seems like Sasuke is giving a thought about what I told him..._  
"Eh? What's everyone doing here?" Everyone turned as they saw Sakura approaching.  
"Well, it's a bit of a long story Sakura-chan," Asami replied with a weak smile. Honestly, she was quite confused as to what was happening.  
"Hmm, what are you guys doing here anyway? Aren't you from another village?" Naruto asked as the four genin looked at the different insignia on the hitai-ate.  
"Wait, you guys don't even know?" The blonde girl asked as she rose one of her eyebrows. At the confused looks, she continued, "We're here for the Chuunin Exams." At that, Asami quickly looked enlightened, "Oh! So that's the reason why some teams headed out every 6 months!"  
"Huh? Oh, I thought that they were going on joint missions as a team building exercise..." Naruto added as he scratched his cheek.  
The red haired boy decided he had enough and moved on, stopping only to ask what the blonde and auburn haired girl's name were. Strangely enough, they both smiled as they introduced themselves to him.  
"Uzumaki Naruto! Make sure you remember it! I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"  
"Hakumei Asami! Nice to meet you!"  
The boy didn't respond as positively, "Sabaku no Gaara."  
Sakura was still confused. It seemed tense earlier, but now they were introducing each other?  
"Let's go." With that simple command, the Suna genin jumped and left the four Konoha genin behind.  
"Hmm, I wonder if Kakashi-sensei is going to nominate us?" Asami wondered aloud.  
"That's possible considering how we've finished and succeeded all of our missions," Sakura replied as she considered the possibilities.  
"That guy...Gaara...I didn't even feel his presence or hear his footsteps," Sasuke commented. Asami mentally smiled, the boy had started to gradually open up to them as they spent time together. _It's probably because of that time in Ichiraku isn't it? _  
_**"Ahh, nothing better than a bowl of ramen after a successful mission!" Naruto stated as he rubbed his stomach and grinned. Asami smiled back as she finished her first bowl while he started his fifth bowl. **_  
_**"That was your fourth bowl Naruto! How can you still be eating?" Sakura commented as she looked at her small bowl that wasn't even half way done! The boy meerly grinned as he yelled out for another bowl. Sakura sighed and shook her head. **_**At least I'm not paying for him, **_**she thought as she ate another bite of her ramen. **_  
_**"How's the ramen Sasuke?"**_  
_**"Hn, it was...good." At the last statement, Naruto's mouth opened in shock before grinning even wider. He threw his arm around Sasuke, "Heh, seems you're not such a bad guy after all teme!" **_  
_**The boy almost rolled his eyes at his teammate's behavior, "Get off of me usuratonkachi, I only said it was good!"**_  
_**"Hahaha, so?! It was still a compliment to ramen!" However, Naruto did let go of Sasuke before his face quickly turned serious, but had a small smile. "I'm glad that you saved me back at the bridge teme. No matter what, you've got my word that I'll help you with whatever you need. Even killing your brother." The black haired boy froze, unsure of what to say, but remembered that he was still an avenger and it was a path he travelled by himself.**_  
_**"I don't need your help Naruto. I'll get stronger on my own to kill him! I'm an Uchiha-an elite! I don't-" **_  
_**"Yes you do," the blond interrupted as blue eyes met black which were starting to turn red. "I don't care if you're an Uchiha, Sasuke. You're not an elite because of your name, you're an elite because you worked for it. Sure you're a genius, I'll admit that, but you still worked hard to get to where you are today. I don't go back on my words, Sasuke. If we helped you, we'll be able to bring him down together." Although Sasuke was starting to doubt himself, he still didn't believe it. **_  
_**"Shut up dobe, I don't need whatever you have, I only need hatred to grow stronger!" His eyes were now fully red with two tomoes. However, Naruto didn't give up, he truly wanted Sasuke to see how Team Seven could help him and how hatred wasn't the answer.**_  
_**"Sasuke, why do you think hatred is the answer? We can accomplish much more together as a team. Don't you remember what Asami-chan said? It can take three genin to take down a jounin." Silence met Naruto's calm statement and Sasuke's eyes started to turn back to its original hue as he started to think. **_  
_**It was true that he did work hard to end up where he was and he had told Sasuke something he had longed to hear from everyone. He had always wanted to be acknowledged as himself, not his clan. His father had once told him that he was proud of him, but that it was to be expected from him. Sure it's great that his father was proud of him, but he wanted to acknowledge for what he did as himself, not because of being That Man's younger brother and being an Uchiha. **_**Maybe I should listen to him? We're already becoming something like a family...Why not work together? **  
_**"Let's work together Sasuke...You're a part of Team Seven and we should work together to solve problems," Asami added as she saw the doubt in her teammate's eyes. She had stayed quiet, but she agreed with Naruto in everything. Sakura also agreed. She had gotten to know the boy she had admired for so long and she thought that she was growing stronger herself. She wanted to help Team Seven and that meant that she'll help Sasuke, not just as a girl who admired him, but as a girl who wanted to protect her friends. "Whether you like it or not, Sasuke-kun, we're going to always going to help you."**_  
_**Sasuke sighed, "Che, fine...But don't hold me back from getting the killing blow on him," he replied as the rest of Team Seven smiled in relief and happiness. Naruto reached over to his friend's bowl and slurped up some noodles. "Oi! Eat from your own bowl dobe!" The blond grinned; he had just gained a friend that he could trust with his life. Asami smiled at Naruto as he and Sasuke began some friendly banter while Sakura sighed and started talking about some medical jutsus she had started to learn along with a woman she wanted to be like. **_  
"Ah! Damn it! Konohamaru didn't give me back Gama-chan!"  
"You mean you forgot about it?" Asami asked as her friend quickly started looking around for his precious wallet. Sasuke face palmed, "Fine, let's get this done and over with. I saw the kid run towards the park."  
"Alright! Thanks teme!"  
"Let's get going, we still have a team meeting in an hour!" Sakura added as the four started jogging and searching for the boy.  
In 30 minutes, they found the boy and he quickly returned it once Sakura started threatening to use him as a guinea pig. As they arrived at the bridge, the four were casually talking about the upcoming Chuunin Exams.  
"So do you guys think we'll be nominated?" Naruto asked with his arms behind his head.  
Sakura shrugged. "It's possible. Our teamwork's pretty good and we've gotten better at coordinating our attacks."  
"I think we will. After all, we've done more D-ranks than any other team, and I heard that Hinata-chan's team just came back from their C-rank yesterday while our C-rank turned into an A-rank and we still survived," Asami added. Although the two girls weren't on the same team, they had decided to meet up every week on Fridays at a local sweet shop to talk. They'd discuss over a few cinnamon rolls, cake slices, or a fruit tart and some tea. _I should bring Sakura-chan with us sometime. It'd be nice to have the two become friends._ "What do you think Sasuke?" Sasuke leaned on the railing as he spoke out about his thoughts. "Kakashi's going to nominate us because we can work together and he's seen us train and our mock battles. Plus I bet that if he didn't nominate us, Naruto would probably prank him for days as punishment," he smirked as he said the last sentence. A shout from the boy was heard along with laughter from the two females.  
"Then I guess it's a good thing that I'm nominating you guys," a voice commented as the man approached his team with four sheets of paper.  
The genins eyes bulged as they saw their forever late sensei walking towards them on time. A few seconds of shocked silence passed before Naruto asked aloud, "Alright who are you and what have you done with Kakashi-sensei?" The man blinked a bit and sweat dropped when his students started questioning his identity.  
"Maybe he finally faced all of the women's wrath and fury at reading those books in public?" Asami suggested.  
"Or maybe got captured by an enemy ninja and escaped to tell the Hokage, but this is actually the enemy cosplaying as him to use us as an alibi and make everyone think that the real him is the enemy," Sakura replied as she caught onto the little game.  
"He could've gotten lost on the road of life while helping an old lady carry her groceries home and saved her neighbor's cat, but the neighbor had something against him and reported him to the Hokage who took him to the T&I and this is actually another jounin or ANBU pretending to be him so that we don't panic," Sasuke added with a small smirk. The copy ninja sighed, _See, this is what happens when I'm actually on time Hokage-sama. My team starts to doubt my identity and my abilities..._He shook his head and bopped each of them on the head before ignoring them and continuing.  
"These are forms for the upcoming Chuunin Exams," he paused as he handed them out before continuing, "All you have to do is fill them out and go to the Academy tomorrow at 8 am to room 301."  
Two loud shouts from Asami and Naruto rang out as they heard the news. Sasuke smirked and Sakura smiled and giggled at the actions of her teammates.  
"Alright! We're going to kick some major ass tomorrow!" Naruto yelled out with an arm pump.  
"Well it's good to that you're all excited so let's get going in our D-ranks shall we?" Kakashi asked with an eye-smile. Groans were all heard as they headed to the Hokage Tower.  
Backyard  
"W-wait a second Naruto!" Asami exclaimed. Naruto paused from his weeding and looked towards his friend.  
"Is something wrong Asami-chan?"  
Asami sweat dropped, "Naruto, you're taking out some of the herbs too!"  
"Eh?! What's the difference? Aren't they all weeds?" He pointed at his pile of herbs and weeds. Sakura resisted the urge to hit her friend's-yes her friend, it was impossible to hate the boy like what her parents told her to, _Which reminds me, I need to have talk with them about their lies about Naruto being a horrible and mean boy. He's been nothing but fun and kind...Hmm something's off though, I guess they'll tell me when it's time. _"Ne, Sakura-chan, what's the difference? You know medical jutsus so you probably know about herbs too!"  
Sakura smiled. Although they joked about her medical jutsus, they knew that she was perfectly capable of using them correctly when needed. She only screwed around with them to make people weary of her so that they wouldn't underestimate her. "Well the difference between these herbs and the weeds is that the herbs are in something like a pattern. The weeds are usually the ones that look like they don't belong there," she paused and grabbed one of the herbs and weeds, "Another difference is that the weed's leaves are slightly more pointed and the roots are more spread out. The herbs look similar but if you look closely, you'll see that the leaves aren't as pointed and they have a fresh, soothing smell unlike the weeds." Naruto grinned and took the two plants in her hands and smelt them.  
"Ohh! Hey you're right! Thanks Sakura-chan!" Sakura blushed and smiled back before nodding and going back to work. She didn't like it, but if she was going to be a medic-nin like Tsunade, she was going to have to get used to it. Asami smiled and also went back to work. _If Sakura-chan wasn't aiming to be a medic-nin, she'd be a pretty good teacher. _Once they finished the mission, Kakashi smiled sadistically and took them to the next mission. The four mentally groaned as they started on their mission. Sure the hot sun wasn't on them as much and their hands weren't sore from the same movements for the last hour, but they weren't sure if working in a cold river, and picking up trash was better.  
In two hours, the genin were soaked to the bone and their hands had blisters, but they were happy. They had just received their pay from the Wave mission and were looking forward to more missions that paid at least 100,000 ryo. "So do you guys wanna call it a day and head to Ichiraku Ramen or go for some training?" Naruto asked as he crossed his arms behind his head. Sasuke smirked, "I could use some training. Those missions didn't do much for use other than teaching you the difference between weeds and herbs." Naruto rolled his eyes and grabbed Sasuke in a one-arm hug and smiled. "Yeah, yeah, go ahead and make fun of me teme but I bet that smirk's not gonna be on your face after I'm done with you."  
"We'll see about that usuratonkachi," he added. The girls laughed at the scene and Kakashi smiled. It was nice to see his team working and bonding together. It made the guilt he carried lift a little.  
"Well since the boys are going to train together," Asami led on and Sakura smiled and nodded as she pulled Asami to the side as the rest of their team continued on.  
"We might as well train together too. I've been wanting to get some of your input on how Tsunade-sama's chakra enhanced strength works." Asami's eyes grew, "You've been working on that?!" Sakura grinned and nodded, "Yep! I've almost got it but I can't get the timing quite right so I was wondering if you could help since your chakra control's better than the boys."  
"Wait you want me to try it out too?" Sakura nodded, "Yeah, I know that you're more of a long to mid-range fighter, but I thought that it might be nice to learn a close range technique just in case." Asami saw the logic in that and nodded. Her taijutsu wasn't the best so she focused more on long and mid-ranged attacks. It was actually pretty good too since everyone else on Team Seven was mid and close range fighters. They had developed a formation during a mock battle where Asami would stay behind with Sakura and Naruto and Sasuke would be in the front since they did most of the damage. Asami would use long ranged jutsus with Sakura using genjutsu to hide some and create confusion. Both Naruto and Sasuke were more straightforward and coordinated their attacks together while the girls created mass confusion. It had served the team well when they fought against the other genin teams and they had easily come out victorious.  
Training Ground  
"Alright! Bring it on Sasuke-teme!" Naruto shouted as the two got into positions to battle. Naruto grinned and Sasuke smirked as they circled each other. They waited for the other to start and both ran forward but stopped when they heard a loud crash and the ground shaking, followed by another but much stronger. "W-what the hell was that?" Kakashi shook his head at Naruto's question and the three headed to where the sound came from. As they hurried, they heard and felt more quakes and Naruto panicked. _What if Asami-chan and Sakura-chan's in danger?! _He was about to use the seal on Asami's neck when Kakashi put his hand on his shoulder and Sasuke copied the action. He grinned and before Sasuke could justify his reason, they were instantly teleported to where both of the girls were. The scene they saw surprised them and left them with their mouths wide open. There were craters scattered all around them and Sakura was in one of the largest one with a large and satisfied grin on her face.  
"S-Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with shock. She looked at them and tilted her head, "Did you need something?"  
"Did you do all of this?" Kakashi asked as he got himself back together. "Where's Asami-chan by the way?"  
"Sorry, up here!" Asami smiled and jumped down from a tree branch. "You guys teleported right when I was jumping up here."  
"Why did you jump up there?" Asami grinned, "Because I wanted to how large Sakura-chan could make a crater," she replied nonchalantly and walked over to the pink haired girl who was still grinning.  
"Then Sakura made all of these?" Sasuke asked as he quickly changed his mind about his teammate who was a fan girl of his. At this, Sakura shook her head and answered slightly out of breath, "Not all of them. Asami-chan made some of them too."  
"Eh?!" The boys looked at their teammate who now sporting a small blush and grinning.  
"She wanted to make sure that I could take care of myself if an enemy got too close for comfort so I helped her with the timing and she taught me how she thought it worked."  
"Wait you mean you didn't know how it worked?" Naruto asked as he quickly walked over and checked if his friends were hurt anywhere. Sakura blushed a little as she explained herself.  
"Well, this all started when Asami-chan suggested for me to try and impress Sasuke-kun." The boy raised an eyebrow and stepped back. Sakura smiled and chuckled, "But then I kinda forgot about trying to impress him when I started learning more about the world of the medic nin. Soon I learnt about Tsunade-sama and about her history. I...I didn't want any of you guys to get hurt or die so I decided that I'd become a medic-nin. I want to be like her but I want to also make sure that everyone I care about is still safe. Then I heard about her amazing strength and about her use of chakra enhanced strength. The library didn't have any information on it so I had to think about the theory behind it and how to use it myself." Sakura smiled as she finished. Her eyes were bright as she talked about her role model and determination showed in both her voice and in her green eyes. She was proud of her achievements and her smile turned into a grin when she saw the pride and happiness showing in all if her teammates' faces. Kakashi walked over and patted her head as he congratulated her. "Well, I guess this means that I have geniuses all on my team." His voice was full of pride and the genin couldn't help but grin and blush at the comment. He truly was proud of the four. He was slightly worried at the beginning but it disappeared with how his team was doing. Sasuke was a prodigy and with his Sharingan, he was quick and fast with taijutsu and ninjutsu. Naruto had showed his creative use of seals and Kage Bunshin, using his unpredictable nature as an advantage. Asami had shown her proficiency in ninjutsu of every element and was even hinting at a secret project that was succeeding. Now, his last genin whom he thought wouldn't last a day was showing that she wasn't about to be left behind anymore. She had shown her interest in medical jutsus and had a small arsenal of genjutsu that was now accompanied with her use of her new skill. _They're all growing up into fine ninja Hokage-sama. Soon they'll be leading the ninja world into a new era. _"Alright, I know that you guys weren't able to train today, but I think this is enough excitement for one day ne?" He expected groans from the two but instead received a smirk from Sasuke to Naruto and a grin from the other before shouting out, "Sweet! This calls for a celebration at Ichiraku Ramen!" Sakura sighed, she knew ramen wasn't very healthy but she decided to lecture the boy another day. Plus, she was starting to grow a love for the dish too even though she'd rather not look at the number on her weight scale nowadays. Together, a very happy Team Seven headed off into their favorite ramen shop to celebrate and toast to a good exam tomorrow.

**Thank you for reading and I hope you've enjoyed! I will be splitting up the Chuunin Exams into either two or three parts, something I'll probably start doing more often to slow down and not rush through the story. Stay tuned for more!**


	8. The Beginning-Chuunin Exams Part 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I never will...I only own my OC. **  
**By the way, I'm sorry! I have no other excuse other than writer's block and finals! I'm still working on the next chapter, but it's almost done. Thank you for sticking around!**  
"Speaking" _Thoughts_ _**Flashback**_ **Summon/Demon talking**  
Asami's House  
Asami woke up to her alarm bleeping and slowly got up as she yawned. She stretched a bit before getting out and stumbled to the bathroom across the hallway. No one was awake yet since civilian school was closed for the day and the Academy started at eight. Her father was sleeping in for the day from his job.  
As she washed up and got dressed in her usual outfit, she glanced at the calendar hanging on her white walls. She felt nervous and excited all at the same time. She looked in the mirror and saw her mother's earrings. They were absolutely precious to her and she loved it because it reminded her if her mother. When she gave her necklace away, she felt bare but over time, she had gotten used to it. Today was the Chuunin Exams and she was worried that she would lose them or someone would try to steal them. _Should I leave them on or should I take them off?_ She fingered them and felt warmth from them and decided to leave them on. She loved her mother and trusted her words that these would protect her. From what, she didn't know but she would keep then on for today as a good luck charm. She had a strange feeling about the day ahead of her. _I hope it's a good feeling okaa-san. _She grabbed and strapped her kunai and shuriken bag on and went to get a quick breakfast along with some extra supplies. _Can't be too sure about what might happen today. Best to be prepared. _Once finished, she glanced once more at the clock in her kitchen and walked out with a silent good-bye. She didn't want anyone to wake up after all. As she headed to the Academy with her paper, she looked around at Konoha. It was a great village and she truly loved it despite how it treated Naruto at times. She approached her teammates and waved. "Ohayo minna!"  
"Ohayo Asami-chan!" Sakura replied to her friend. She was in a great mood. Last night, she confronted her parents about their attitude towards Naruto and quickly got them to apologize and see things her way. She was ready for the exams and had faith in all of her teammates.  
Sasuke nodded his greeting as Naruto rushed over to them. "Sorry I'm late! I kinda overslept...again hehehe," Naruto apologized and rubbed the back of his head with a small smile. "Whatever you say dobe, let's just get going," Sasuke interrupted with a smirk. Naruto grinned and the four walked inside of the building with confidence. Inside, they stopped as they saw a large group of genins waiting in front of doors on the second floor. Sakura raised an eyebrow as she whispered to her teammates, "There's a genjutsu on this floor that makes it seem like you're on the third floor, but we're only on the second." Sasuke nodded, "Let's go to the real room then," he grabbed Naruto who was about to yell out the truth, "And shut it dobe. Let them weed out those that don't deserve to take the exam since they fell to a simple genjutsu." Naruto looked defiantly at his friend. It was wrong to him, not telling everyone the truth. He saw the logic behind Sasuke's words, but it still felt wrong to him. Asami saw her friend battle with himself and put her hand on his shoulder. "I know it doesn't seem right Naruto, but remember, we're not samurai. We don't have a code of morals like them. We are shinobi. We work in the shadows. We lie, kill, and deceive to succeed in our missions. Let this be a reminder for them to look at their surroundings and notice that they were in a genjutsu. I know you know that some people learn best from experience, so let them learn it." Naruto looked at his friends and sighed in defeat before nodding and heading up to the next floor. _Sorry guys, but I guess this will just have to be a lesson for you. _  
They passed another genin group and immediately, the atmosphere became tense. "Hakumei. Uzumaki." The blonde and red head looked at the boy with coldness, "Neji-san," Asami greeted similarly. The Hyuuga's white eyes narrowed at the girl but stopped when he saw the Uchiha. "Uchiha." Sasuke heard the contempt in the Hyuuga's voice and at his greeting towards his friends. Yes, he had decided that his teammates were now his friends after the Ichiraku Speech. "Hyuuga," he replied in the same tone. Neji was about to comment how the last girl wasn't worth his time when he felt his teammates catch up from behind. "Neji-san! There you are! TenTen-san and I have been-" the boy paused as he saw what he considered to be a goddess. _A goddess?! That beautiful pink hair like the youthful sakura trees in spring and those youthful green eyes that remind me of Gai-sensei's youthful clothing! She is like a youthful lotus blossom in spring! _Little did he know, what he had been thinking had came out of his mouth and Sakura immediately blushed at the first sentence before she noticed how he was dressed and as the boy continued, she started to pale as she noticed his large, bushy eyebrows and green spandex suit. Asami and Naruto sweatdropped at the boys proclaimstion of love that quickly followed.  
"Um, I-I," Sakura began as she internally panicked. _What do I do?!_ Unfortunately, she looked at Sasuke and the boy called Rock Lee had the wrong idea as he soon challenged Sasuke to a battle of love. Sasuke raised his eyebrows and accepted despite Assmi's protest. Naruto was confused at why Bushy-Brows was challenging Sasuke, but he was currently engaged in a staring contest with Hinata's cousin. They had met once and both he and Asami disliked the way he treated Hinata. Asami didn't want them to fight for one reason. Lee was older and had more experience than Sasuke. Sure Sasuke was skilled, but she noticed the bandages wrapped around his arms and knew that he was a taijutsu specialist. Sasuke only engaged in taijutsu spars with Naruto or Kakashi-sensei and both weren't taijutsu specialists. She sighed and hoped that everything would be okay and decided to comfort Sakura who was still in shock.  
Asami winced every time Sasuke was hit by Lee and hoped that nothing was to seriously hurt that Sakura couldn't fix. She gasped as Lee kicked her teammate into the air and shouted out, "Kage Buyō!" and was about to kick him the the stomach when a loud shout of "Dynamic Entry!" was heard and a flash of green was hurled at Lee and a loud smack was heard. The members of Team Seven caught their falling teammate and Sakura went into what they called "medic mode" where she took no nonsense from anyone and threatened to pummel the injured if they didn't listen or the people that interrupted her. "You alright Sasuke-teme?" Naruto asked as Sakura quickly healed any damage she found. Sasuke rolled his eyes which turned back from its Sharingan state as he replied, "I'm fine. I just didn't see that coming-"  
"Save it you Baka!" Sakura interrupted as she worked and glared at him, "Fine?! As if! Damn it Sasuke-kun you could've gotten critically injured! And if that happened, we wouldn't be able to take the Chuunin Exams!" Despite their initial shock at their polite teammate calling her crush a name and swearing, Sasuke recovered first, "You don't need the entire team to enter, so even if I was critically injured, you could all-"  
"No we wouldn't Sasuke," Asami interrupted, "We're a team so if you don't go, none of us go." Naruto smiled, "She's right teme. Whether you like it or not, we're going to stay by your side. Plus how can I show off my awesome skills if you're not there?" He added as his smile turned into a smirk. Sasuke scoffed and smiled at his teammates. "Fine, you guys win, happy?" He took Naruto's offered hand and grinned, "You know it dattebayo!"  
As they approached the classroom, they met Kakashi who eye-smiled at them. "Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.  
"What? I can't wish you all good luck?" The genin smiled and rolled their eyes as their jounin sensei pretended to be hurt. A chuckle left the jounin's mouth as he patted all of their heads. "I knew you four could do it, good luck on this. Don't worry if you fail to become a Chuunin. Not everyone becomes one on their first try."  
A grin was his reply from all four genin. "Well then," Asami started.  
Sakura interrupted, "I guess we'll just-"  
"Prove to everyone that," Sasuke continued with a smirk.  
"We'll all pass together!" Naruto finished with the largest grin. Kakashi stood in shock before chuckling and leaving them with one last pat on their heads. The four looked at each other and nodded as they entered. They were met with genins all over the room and greeted the familiar faces with smiles. Kiba was the first to approach them with Akamaru in his coat. "Hey Naruto! What are you doing here? This isn't a place for dead lasts!"  
Naruto rolled his eyes and smiled, "Hey Kiba! You know I could say the same for you right?" The boy grinned and grabbed his Academy friend in a one-arm hug. "Meh, details, details! So how have you've been! We haven't seen you any of you since the genin mock battle!" Naruto shrugged, "We've been here and there." The blonde paused and grinned, "Hi Hinata-chan! How have you been? Sorry I haven't talked to you for a long time!" The girl blushed a deep red as her crush paid attention to her. Of course they were friends, but she still had a hard time not blushing or fainting in his vicinity. "I-I'm doing great N-Naruto-kun a-and it's o-okay. I-I know you've b-been busy t-training." Naruto grinned, oblivious of what it was doing to the poor girl's heart that suddenly decided to best faster. "Hehehe, thanks Hinata-chan! You've always been understanding! That's what I like about you the most!" The blonde paused when he noticed the girl's red face and walked forward, putting his hand on her face, "Hey! Are you alright Hinata-chan?! You're really hot!" The poor girl fainted right then and there after the last statement. "Eh?! Oi?! Hinata-chan?" Asami bit her lips to stop herself from laughing out loud at her friends and walked towards the two. Shino and Kiba were both fanning Hinata and Asami quickly apologized as Sakura dragged the confused boy away as she shook her head at her teammate. Sasuke would've helped but he was stuck when Ino decided to let him know about her presence by launching herself at him. Luckily he moved away in time but flinched when the girl started complaining about how he was playing hard to get and how he was ignoring her. Shikamaru interrupted her and Sasuke quickly shot a glance of thanks to the lazy boy as he backed away to where the rest of his team was. _Crazy fan girls...damn it, why can't they just leave me alone?! _He fought the urge to roll his eyes and instead smirked at his blonde teammate who was absolutely confused and being lectured by Sakura with Asami apologizing to Team Eight. His smirk faltered when he felt someone looking at him similar to how his fan girls looked at him but somehow, he felt it was different. _It feels more like a prey stalking its victim, _he realized.  
"Everything alright?" Sasuke looked over at Asami who asked him. He decided not to tell her but didn't expect for her to comment about something similar. "I have a bad feeling Sasuke, be on guard. It feels as if someone's stalking us like a predator."  
"Hn, I noticed it too." Both skimmed the room and Asami felt chills when she looked at a Kusa genin with long black hair wearing a straw hat. She turned to Sasuke,"I think it's coming from that Kusa lady, we should be careful around her." He nodded and agreed, he didn't like the way she was looking at him. Both looked at their other two teammates and whispered to them what they thought. Both nodded but didn't look where and pretended that they were saying something funny instead so that their peers wouldn't notice. It wouldn't do any good if the rest of the Rookie Nine noticed and panicked. However, they didn't notice Shikamaru observing their interaction and that he could read lips. _Hmm, guess I'll have to watch out for that lady from Kusa, how troublesome..._A voice stopped the conversation and the nine rookies saw a silver haired teen wearing circular glasses approaching them with cards containing information. Before any of them could ask, Asami quickly spoke out, "Thanks Kabuto-san but I think it's best if we try and find out ourselves. After all, we're shinobi, we're suppose to find out information ourselves and how do we know that you're not just trying to scam us by giving us false information?" The teen chuckled and tried defending himself, "Well I wouldn't try something like that, after all I'm from Konoha too and this is my sixth time taking this exam. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, I just wanted to help you guys with some advice."  
Asami smiled and blushed, "Oh, well thanks but I want to try passing this exam with my own strength, Kabuto-san. Maybe I'll ask if we meet again!" Kabuto opened his mouth to reply but was cut off with the entrance of Morino Ibiki commanding them to sit next to someone who wasn't on the same team. The Rookie Nine hurried off and each found a seat. Asami herself, sat next to Gaara with a polite smile. She got chills from him too, but it wasn't as much as Kabuto or the Kusa lady. As soon as Kabuto had approached, she felt danger signals going off in her head and despite the confusion as to why, she trusted her instincts and as politely as she could, tried to tell him to go away. For some reason, she just didn't trust the teen, she felt danger and deceit coming from him. As she turned the paper over, she found that the questions weren't genin or Chuunin level. They were closer to jounin level which confused her until she analyzed the rules Ibiki had given them. _Hmm, I think we're suppose to cheat off of each other without getting caught. _She flinched as teams were sent out of the room once they lost all of their points. Asami took a deep breath and quickly started using everything she knew to answer the questions without cheating.  
She sighed in relief as she finished and laid her head down. She hated math and thought it wasn't very useful since no one was really going to use math formulas to find out the trajectory path of kunai. There wouldn't be enough time to process all the information needed before you were killed because you were using equations instead of focusing on the chakra signal or using your sense of smell or hearing to pinpoint their locations. _Oh well, I'm sure that this might actually be useful for someone someday. _She shifted her gaze at her blonde friend who she could see was mentally panicking and at Hinara who seemed to be offering him her test answers. A happy smile appeared on her face at the sight of the two. Her plan was still in motion and she was sure that she was getting the two closer together every time they met. She noticed Gaara's gaze on her and not knowing what to do, she looked over and smiled.  
Gaara was annoyed. Mother was calling for the blonde boy's and auburn haired girl's blood. However, he couldn't because if he did, then the plan would be ruined. He calmed Mother down by imagining their deaths by his hands. To anyone else, it would've been disgusting and gory, but it pleased his mother immensely. The test was annoying to him too. He quickly used a sand eye to gather information and gave it to Kankuro and Temari. He did not call them his siblings even though they were. They feared him just like everyone else in Suna. He didn't mind though, Mother was happy. She loved fear and hatred. It was up there on her favorite list of what she liked along with blood and killing. His green eyes looked over at the girl sitting next to him. She was strange. Mother didn't like it her and wanted her blood. She had red hair similar to his but looked darker. Her outfit consisted of a sweater over a dress and he was pretty sure that she wore either shorts or mesh leggings underneath. She had a small pouch where she most likely kept her kunai and shuriken and from his point of view, he could that she wore earrings. Gaara was about to look away when his eyes met her violet orbs and he blinked in suprise when he saw the curiosity behind them coupled with some sort of...happiness? Then, out of everything she could've done, she smiled at him and he noticed soft pink spots showing on her cheeks. If he had eyebrows and was more expressive, he would have raised them. However, since he didn't, he did the only thing he could do other than killing her, he stared back. If he was more empathetic, he would've sensed the atmosphere becoming very awkward. But since he wasn't, he continued staring at her, unaware of the thoughts rushing through Asami's head.  
When his green eyes met Asami's, she felt her a small blush creeping onto her face. She silently admited that he was quite handsome and maybe would've been even more if he smiled. She had decided to smile at him to see if he would smile back, and thus Gaara was presented with Asami's smiling face accompanied with a small blush. It was strange when she looked into his light green eyes. She saw madness but if she looked deeper, she also saw something similar to Naruto's, loneliness and pain. _Why do they look like how Naruto's use to? That deep pain that Naruto showed to me, why is it on his face? He seemed to be related to the blonde haired teen and the puppeteer._ Then she realized that perhaps her family wasn't the only one that was slightly broken. She had only seen families that smiled and laughed with each other while experiencing a cold family life with the only comfort being her younger brother and sometimes her younger sister. Asami lifted her head and tilted it slightly as she and the other red head looked at each other. She didn't pity him, she'd seen what Naruto had to go through and knew that pity wasn't welcomed. What she felt, was understanding. Sure she didn't know him, but there was some kind of understanding. Family life between the two wasn't all sugar and rainbows. The scars of her childhood when her father left her behind and continued to ignore her were only starting to heal. It had taken a total of four years for him to acknowledge her existence and friendship with Naruto. It was strange for Asami, understanding a total stranger, but somehow, it felt like it was just meant to be. _What could've happened to him? Why isn't he like Naruto? Why doesn't he smile?_  
Gaara didn't know what to do when he read the emotions in the violet orbs. There was surprise at first, of what-he wasn't sure. Then it changed into...into something like understanding. Mother wanted her blood and he was about to give it to her, plans be damned, when he saw no pity. Nothing showed but empathy and understanding. There was fear in her eyes, but he had the feeling it was more like she was afraid of what happened to him and...and deep concern for him. _Why is she worried about me, Mother?_  
**She...she is,** Shukaku paused. He didn't know what to do. He wanted her blood for revenge ever since Uzumaki Mito sealed him away. He could sense her strong blood relations to an Uzumaki along with the blonde. Shukaku decided that he would continue his act as a "mother", **She is only trying to trick you my child. Similar to what He did to you. **Gaara could feel his blood boiling as let a small bit of killer intent wash over Asami. He hated that man. He had betrayed Gaara and lied to him. He felt joy when he saw her recoil in shock, but somehow, he also felt as if he was hurt when he saw the sadness in the violet eyes. It was as if his heart was hurting, however, it disappeared as he felt Mother's happiness.  
Asami stopped herself from crying as she bit her lower lip and slowly looked away. She felt hurt and somehow, she also felt betrayed. She thought that the two could become friends, but that notion quickly went down the drain when she felt his killer intent directed at her. It was worse than Zabuza's and she could feel his thinly veiled bloodlust at her.  
When Ibiki had asked the tenth question, she looked at her teammates and her resolve to pass the exams strengthend. She would not be the weak link in Team Seven. As she shoved her hurt feelings aside, she watched as teams left one after another. She had expected Naruto to slam his hand on the table and proclaim that he wouldn't back down, but as seconds passed by, he sat and watched the teams leave. _Maybe he's thinking about what we said earlier and is letting them leave so that they could learn themselves. _She could, however, feel his internal battle and inner distress. He wanted to help everyone and just sitting still without saying anything was against what he believed. A smile appeared on her face as she watched him turn around and met her smile with a growing grin. Sasuke sighed and nodded slightly and Sakura also nodded, giving their consent to him speaking out. Naruto grinned, and slammed his hand on his table, "Don't underestimate me! I don't care if I remain a genin forever! I'll still become Hokage with my teammates right beside me! Bring on the tenth question! I"m not afraid!"  
Those that were debating with themselves quickly resolved their determinations as Naruto shouted. Asami herself, felt her own resolve to try and befriend the boy next to her strengthen. _He probably needs a friend too! I won't let him be alone just like how Naruto used to be! _  
Ibiki looked at the blonde calmly, "I'll ask you all again. This is your last chance to quit."  
"I don't go back on my word!" Naruto replied as he met Ibiki's stare. Ibiki paused as he looked at the remaining genin. They all sported looks of determination and had small grins. _It seems like he has a way with his words. _"Well then, good decisions to everyone that stayed. I congratulate you on passing the first test!"  
Shouts of confusion rang out from the remaining twenty teams. "W-what? How did we pass? What's the tenth question?"  
Ibiki grinned at the question, "There never was a tenth question, or rather, that was your tenth question."  
"Then what was the point of the first nine questions?" Temari yelled out. "Were they pointless?"  
"They weren't pointless. Their purpose was to see all of your abilities to gather information. The point of this test was to cheat since these questions were not genin leveled questions." Genins smirked as they looked around and whispered how they knew the true purpose. Asami smiled weakly as she thought about her earlier actions. She had known a majority of the questions and could guess the concepts behind the ones she didn't know, so she had no need to try and cheat for information. Although, if she didn't know any, it would've been much harder to get information. She had no abilities to help her other than trying to read people's body language and using whatever she already knew. A small sigh of relief escaped her lips but quickly turned into a sharp intake of breath when she saw Ibiki's tortured head with scars, burns, and even screw marks.  
"There will be times when information is more important than your own life, and there will be people who will want that information. The purpose of the tenth question, was basically a "take it or leave it" choice. There will be times when you must choose a dangerous mission as a chuunin. Will you take it despite the risk of dying or your teammates getting hurt?" He paused and looked at the genins in the room. "The answer is yes! As a chuunin, you will need to have courage and the ability to survive and lead. No matter the danger, there will be missions where you can't avoid. Those who can't put their lives on the line, they don't deserve to be chuunins!" He paused again and looked at the genin who all sat straighter before he continued, "I wish you all the best luck in the next exam." _You'll need it, _he added mentally as he felt the chakra presence of the next examener approaching from the window.  
Asami watched as a lady with dark purple hair broke through the window with confusion. She had felt happy at passing and felt her teammates' happiness as well. Sasuke was brimming with confidence and Sakura was overjoyed while Naruto had a large grin on his face as he leaned back and relaxed. He quickly sat back up when the window broke and a lady wearing a tan treanch coat with mesh body armour appeared along with a large banner. A wild grin broke out as she looked around the room. "Mitarashi Anko! I'll be your next examener for the next test! No time for celebrating, follow me!" An eyebrow rose as she counted the remaining teams. "Twenty teams left?! You're getting soft, Ibiki!"  
"They were an outstanding bunch this time," he replied, looking over to the violet haired woman. She grinned, "Hmph, there'll be half by the time I'm done with them!"

**Omake Ending**  
As seconds pass and he did nothing more than stare at her, she felt confusion make its way into her mind. _Why isn't he doing anything? Wait! Is...is this a staring contest? _Another second passed and he still didn't move from his position, confirming her previous thoughts. _Oh! So it is?! Hmm, I'm not very good but I guess he's probably bored. _With those thoughts in mind, Asami continued staring at him even though she could feel her eyes burning from the air. She bit her lower lips in concentration and fought against the natural instinct to blink. Her concentration on him however, made her forget her surroundings and the staring contest between the two was the only thing she was paying attention to. This led to her missing Ibiki's tenth question and his speech along with the entrance of Anko through the window. When Asami felt as though she could no longer keep her eyes open, Gaara stood up and followed his siblings, ignorant of what just conspired. Asami lept up into the air with a victory cry and an arm pump, gathering looks from everyone.  
"What are you doing Asami-chan?" Naruto asked as he raised his eyebrow. The Suna team also stopped, curious of her reason. Asami wiped her eyes and blinked as she smiled and explained herself, "I just won a staring contest!"  
"With who?" Sasuke asked.  
"With him," Asami pointed towards Gaara, leading to looks of shock from everyone, including Gaara himself who had no idea. Kankuro and Temari turned to their younger sibling with shock and surprise. "Gaara?" He looked at his sister and back at the red haired girl who was now sporting a grin before turning and walking out confused. _What just happened Mother?_  
**Nothing important, my child. Just focus on killing those two and getting me blood. **  
Gaara walked out of the room with his siblings behind him while a comment from Asami which caused Kankuro to mentally laugh.  
"Hmm, I think he's a sore loser," Asami commented as she tilted her head and followed the rest of the Rookie Nine who were still giving her weird looks.  
Jounin Lounge  
"...Did you're student seriously think she was having a staring contest Kakashi?" Asuma asked he looked over to his fellow jounin. The copy ninja shrugged in reply and giggled as he read his orange book. Asuma sighed and looked over at Kurenai who also looked at him hopelessly. She had thought that the two were giving each other the lover's gaze, especially with how long they stared at each other and the awkward atmosphere she could feel from the screen was them being both unsure if the other liked them the same way. Baki...well he was wondering if the girl was looking at Gaara because she had caught onto their plans and was trying to see if she could find anything by looking at Gaara. He felt immense relief that the girl had thought it was just a staring contest. She had seemed weary of Orochimaru who was in disguise. "Everything alright Baki-san?" Baki looked to the voice belonging to the copy ninja and answered, "Everything is alright Kakashi-san." Kakashi hummed and his gaze went back to his book. _He doesn't know anything does he?_

**Hehe, was that humor in the omake okay?...No? Well I tried my best! Asami's just that kind of girl who's smart at times, but blissfully ignorant in situations she's never been in. I based the concept of the two having a staring contest as something to show that when you grow up with Naruto as a friend, you'll never know what to expect if he decides to engage in a staring contest with you. Yeah, I know it's not very romantic but they're twelve year olds! What do you expect? I can't have them stare at each other and suddenly make out!...Or can I? Dun dun dun! **

**I was going to actually use it as canon in the story, but it just didn't seem right, so I added a new, more realistic ending. Anyways, thank you for reading and I hope you liked my Panda-chan. It was kind of easier for me to right him as a socially awkward guy who looked to the voice inside his head for advice...Hmm is that good or bad for me? **

**See ya in the next part where action, drama, deceit, hidden plans, and maybe my horrible attempts at humor and romance all come together!...Bye!**


	9. Omake 2

**Disclaimer: Gah! I don't own Naruto! If I did, I'd be rich and NaruHina would al ready be canon! However, I do own Asami and these omakes!**

Konoha Academy

Asami sighed as she watched the Last Uch iha got swarmed by fan girls...again. S he honestly believed that her generation was doomed.

About 99% of the girls in her class were fan girls or didn't really care. It was as though she was the only sane person in an insane world!

She sighed and her head met the desk whe n Sakura-who used to be really nice and sweet before she saw Sasuke, and Ino-who was very popular and had the highest gr ades but was ultimately a fan girl in th e end, started fighting...again.

_Lucky Naru-chan...Skipping out with the other boys..._Sure her head hurt from the table, but s he was already getting a headache from t he screeching.

_I never knew that girl's voices could go so high! Gah! My poor ears!_ It was then that a soft voice called fo r her attention. "A-are y-you a-alright Hakumei-san?"

_Eh?! A girl who can speak softly and has manners?! _She lifted her head and saw the Hyuuga h eiress. Her dark hair was cut short and her eyes were white, but were a shade of lilac.

"Aah, yeah! My head just kinda hurts Hin ata-ch-san." Asami smiled and blushed a t her small mistake. She was used to cal ling people chan, but since Hinata was a n heiress, it wouldn't be very polite. " Oh, you can call me Asami by the way!"

"E-eh? A-are y-you sure?"

The redhead grinned, "Yep! Because that' s what my friends call me!"

The dark haired girl was clearly shocked by the statement. Her mouth was open sl ightly wide along with her eyes. "W-we a re f-friends?"

"Sure! Oh-unless you don't wanna be! I m ean-"

"NO!" Asami paused, as did most of the c lass at hearing the quiet Hyuuga shout. The girl quickly blushed at the attenti on and mentally berated herself for lett ing her emotions get the best of her. Sh e was supposed to be a Hyuuga! Softer, s he explained herself, "I...I want to be friends with you...Asami-chan!"

Asami smiled brightly, she had just gain ed a new friend! "Awesome! I promise tha t you won't regret it Hinata-chan!" The shy girl nodded and they both decided to eat lunch together.

Lunch Time

As the girls sat down to eat their bento s, Naruto plopped down next to Asami wit h a cheeky grin.

"So what's for lunch today Asami-chan?" The girl smiled and quickly gave him a q uick overview of what she had for both o f them. "Ohh, yum!" He reached over and that was when he realized that there was someone else sitting with them. "Huh? W ho are you?"

Hinata blushed before she replied, "H-he llo, I-I'm H-Hyuuga Hinata."

"Oh! You're that weird, quiet girl right ?" Asami mentally sighed at her friend's rudeness, but it was one of his charms strangely.

"Naru-chan! That wasn't very nice!" He a t least had the decency to blush and qui ckly apologized.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to sound rude or a nything Hinata-chan-I can call you that right?"

Said girl nodded as a deep blush appeare d on her face. "I-it's okay N-Naruto-ku n ...I-I know you d-didn't mean t-to!"

"Hahaha, thanks Hinata-chan!" He rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepish ly.

All three proceeded to open their bentos and dug in. Both Asami and Naruto had t raded stories of their day and both laug hed at each other's misfortune with Hina ta giggling. Naruto had noticed her gigg le. It was soft and sweet, _Kinda like a bird singing in the morning or a sweet bell...Gah! I think the fan girls starting to rub off on me! _He mentally shuddered as he remembered t he girls gushing about Sasuke-teme's loo ks. "Ne Hinata-chan?"

"Y-yes N-Naruto-kun?"

The boy smiled before he commented, "You have a nice laugh! You should laugh mor e, it sounds reall y nice." Hinata's hea rt was quickly beating as her face turne d bright red. _Is...Is this love? _"Hey, are you alright Hinata-chan? You d on't look so well!" Naruto commented as he saw his new friend's face turn red.

_Does she have a fever or something? If I 'm gonna be the future Hokage, I should take care of my future shinobi! _Naruto's hand went to her forehead and f elt the hotness. "Whoa! You should go se e the nurse Hinata-chan!"

Unbeknownst to him, Hinata had already f ainted and her body was still in shock f rom the closeness of Naruto. Asami had b een quietly watching the interaction and it quickly clicked. She had seen how he r new friend would blush deeply when eve r Naruto was around and remembered seein g it on a few older girls' faces when th ey were in love or something.

_Who knew that those silly dramas and tel evision shows were actually helpful? _She smiled, _Hinata-chan's in love with Naru-chan isn 't she? That's...that's...that's adorabl e! _She mentally squealed at the thought of her best friend and new friend together. _Alright! Secret mission get-Hinata-and-N aruto-together-as-a-couple starts now! _

Asami noticed that the blushing girl was no longer responding so she quickly ste pped in before her friend panicked. "Oh! You should probably go to the boys with a new prank. There's nothing much going on in class today other than reviewing Konoha's history."

"Hmm, what about Hinata-chan? She's not responding." He looked at the girl worry ingly.

"Ah, don't worry; she's probably thinkin g a bit about today's lesson! I'll take care of her! Don't forget the plan!"

He smiled, "Alright! See ya later Asami- chan, Hinata-chan!" Hinata instantly wok e up as Naruto called her name.

"Eh?" Asami stifled a laugh; her new fri end was truly quite interesting.

"So you have a crush on Naru-chan eh?" H inata blushed deeply and fidgeted with h er fingers. "Don't worry Hinata-chan, I won't tell him. But why do you like him? " Asami like Hinata, but she still want ed to see if the girl was the right one for Naruto. She wanted him to be happy a nd in love. A long silence passed before Hinata told Asami. As Asami listened, s he realized that she had similar reasons as to why she liked Naruto.

In the end, she decided that Hinata woul d be the perfect match for Naruto. The t wo girls walked back inside with a bette r understanding of each other and it was then that Asami remembered something vi tally important. She had to do something with Naruto's proclamations of love tow ards Sakura. Although she had been nice when they first met, Asami didn't approv e of a relationship between the two. Sur e they could be friends, but nothing mor e. _Alright, so I've confirmed that Hinata-c han is the perfect one for Naru-chan, so now I have to get rid of any competitio n. Hmm, I guess I'll have to have a talk with Naru-chan and persuade him to noti ce that Sakura-chan's not the right one for him. Then all I have to do is gently nudge the two together and watch the ma gic happen...Alright! Phase One complete ! Phase Two initiate!_

**Sorry! I know this isn't the next part t o the Chuunin Exams but since I'm still working on it, I decided to upload this as thanks to those who are still reading and as an apology for being lazy. I kno w I should be ashamed of myself, in spri ng break and not even working much on th e story! I've mostly been going back , g asping at the mistakes (grammar…grrr ), and then quickly fixing them…**

**I probably won't be able to update this until either next week or two weeks from now since I've been procrastinating on a book project. If a miracle happens and I actually update earlier, you can just ignore this until I delete it!**

**Thanks to NightSky98, NinjaOfSilence, destined to be me, moonlightjasmine, and xXYuseiXAkikoXx for favoriting! **

**Would it be selfish of me to ask what yo u (the readers) are thinking? I've got s ome feedback from a few people but I'd l ike to know your opinions too. I won't f orce you to or hold any chapters hostage if you don't (it's kind of annoying whe n authors do that), but I'd like to know what you think!**

**Hope you enjoyed this light hearted omak e!**

**See ya!**


	10. The Beginning-Chuunin Exams Part 3

"Speaking" _Thoughts_ _**Flashback **_ **Summon/Demon talking**

* * *

Forest of Death

Fear. That was the word that described exactly what Asami was feeling at the moment. They were confronted by the Kusa "lady" that was really the Snake Sannin, Orochimaru. Naruto had to split off and fight a large snake summon, but when he returned, the Sannin had used a seal, the Five Element Seal, which had knocked him out.

Asami looked at her unconscious blonde friend and carefully set him down to help her other teammates who were trying to fight, but failing. Sakura had been using her chakra enhanced strength and was trying to simultaneously heal any injuries.

The pink haired girl jumped up onto a tree branch and charged her fist, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Sasuke had been using his Sharingan and jutsus had been quickly called out as he tried to protect what he had thought of as friends. He looked over to Sakura, who was charging her chakra around her fist and understood what she was about to do. He let out another fire jutsu, trying to distract the Sannin. Luckily, it worked and Sakura had a clear shot. She shot off the tree branch and aimed her fist at his spine. A loud smack was heard as the hit connected and sent to Snake Sannin flying back into a tree.

The man smiled wildly as he stood up. "Fufufu, so do we have another mini-Tsunade?" He stood up and licked his lips as he looked at the sight in front him. Here, was the Last Uchiha and a mini-Tsunade. Both were out of breath and their chakra levels were low, sooner or later, he would get what he wanted. He looked over at the blonde jinchuuriki that was unconscious. He mainly did it because it would have been annoying trying to deal with a jinchuuriki, but he couldn't ignore the glee he felt for knocking out a Minato look-alike. He was still slightly bitter about not becoming Hokage, but he didn't mind as much since he didn't need a title to show that he was powerful. He looked over to the right and smirked. The little red haired girl was trying to attack him while her teammates rested.

_Child's play, _he thought as he swiftly dodged a water jutsu. It was interesting to him though, seeing the small girl seal jutsus one after another. She had used over three different elements, water, earth, and fire as she fought him.

He winced as one of her jutsus hit him and stood up. "I've had enough of playing with you, girl." He looked over at Sasuke and licked his lips once more; it was time to mark the boy. He extended his neck as he became closer to his goal however; he was forced back by both of the girls attacking with chakra enhanced fists. He snarled and rolled his neck. He needed to get rid of the girls first before he could get the Uchiha.

He shunshined behind the pink haired girl and knock her into a tree trunk. Sasuke ran over to her and tried to wake her up. Using what little time he had left, Orochimaru shunshined behind the last girl and pushed her into the ground with a kunai at her neck. She tried struggling but it was nothing against the Sannin's strength. She glared at him and he laughed, amused at her attempts. Then he noticed something she was wearing. _Those earrings, _he frowned as he remembered where he recognized them, but it turned into a cruel smirk. He had met Hitomi a few times and when he asked about the earrings, she had told him that they were worn to help protect her body against her own chakra which would slowly try and destroy her body. He was still with Konoha back then and was hailed as a hero.

What he didn't know, was that Hitomi wasn't telling him the truth, that would cost him later on when his name was cursed along with hers.

Orochimaru held the earrings and ignored her protests. He had practice from ignoring the screams of his experiments. Holding onto them, he looked at them, noticing the inscriptions on the red jewels, before gathering his chakra and crushing the accessories.

The girl screamed out in pain as her chakra signature flared and the Snake Sannin smirked as he elongated his neck at the Uchiha who was rushing towards him. Despite the injuries he had, his goal was completed. As the boy fell in pain, he smirked and disappeared, leaving three unconscious genin, a hurt pink haired girl, and an Earth scroll behind.

Sakura groaned as she laid down Asami inside a large tree trunk she found. She had already dragged her other teammates there and now she just wanted to sleep like them. It was unfortunate that she still had to set up traps.

She groaned as finally sat down and sighed in relief. Now that she had time to sit and think, she started panicking. Her teammates were unconscious and both Sasuke and Naruto had a fever. Asami was sleeping, but she had a bad feeling. She had heard the painful scream from her teammate's mouth and didn't know what to do. Her chakra was close to nonexistence so she couldn't use a diagnosis jutsu to check what was wrong.

The strawberry haired girl sighed, in the end, she was still useless.

All of her teammates were unconscious and she couldn't even do anything other than basic first aid and try to make them comfortable. However, she brightened when she remembered Orochimaru say that she was like a mini-Tsunade, that helped boost her self-confidence up in leagues.

Sakura felt her eyes start closing so she pinched herself awake. She would not fall asleep, she couldn't afford it. They had both of the needed scrolls, all she was waiting for, was for her teammates to wake up. After a few more minutes, she had almost fallen asleep, she quickly pinched herself and sighed, tonight was going to be a long night.

Sakura shot up and quickly started berating herself. She had fallen asleep despite her efforts of trying to stay awake. She looked over and gasped, Asami wasn't there! She stood up and wobbled a bit before stabilizing. She ran out of the tree trunk and looked around.

"Where, where?" she mumbled with panic.

Sensing a signature to the left, she looked over and gasped, rushing over. Asami was bending over and sounds of retching could be heard.

"Asami-chan!" The red haired girl dry retched for a few more seconds before wiping her mouth with her sleeve. She looked over and smiled weakly, "Sorry for worrying you, Sakura-chan, but I didn't want to throw up on anyone."

Sakura sighed, "Thanks, how do you feel?" The strawberry haired girl walked over and kneeled next to the girl as her hands glowed green.

"Hehe, well not the best, but thanks for asking," she replied and sighed. "I think something's wrong with my chakra, Sakura-chan. It seems different; I think Orochimaru may have done something when he...crushed my earrings." Sakura frowned, it was true, her chakra was different. As for the earrings, Sakura had learnt it was from Asami's deceased mother and felt sympathy for her loss.

"I wonder why he destroyed them though," Sakura wondered aloud, "It seems kinda strange for him to destroy earrings."

"Well, I'm not quite sure myself," Asami admitted as she thought back. She winced as she remembered the extreme pain she felt. Her body felt like it was burning and yet freezing at the same time. It felt like every cell in her body was being ripped apart and smashed back together without care. Then, right before she blacked out, she thought she heard her mother's voice, urging her to stay strong and just accept what was happening. As she slept, she saw her mother who gave her a brief explanation.

The Uzumaki were known for their sealing abilities, their longevity, and their fast healing. However, their chakra was also known to be special.

Each Uzumaki had special chakra abilities. Uzumaki Mito was known for her specialty in sealing which was used to seal the Kyuubi inside of herself. Uzumaki Kushina's chakra could be turned into chains and used against her opponents. Asami's mother could combine her two affinities, wind and water, creating ice jutsus. She hinted that Asami probably inherited her abilities but she wasn't very sure. The earrings and necklace she had given Asami were to stop her special chakra from attracting any unwanted attention from people like Orochimaru. The necklace was supposed to block her natural abilities such as aiming, and chakra levels. The earrings however, were supposed to make sure she couldn't use her chakra ability.

"Asami-chan?" Asami jumped and blushed. She had forgotten about Sakura who was done using her iryo ninjutsu.

"S-sorry about that. I was just thinking what Orochimaru's motives were."

"Eh? Hmm, what do you think so far?" Asami quickly explained what she had been thinking and waited for what Sakura thought.

Sakura furrowed her brows as she thought about why the Snake Sannin would do something that could help Asami. The man obviously didn't want to help any of them. He had, after all, put her teammates into an unconscious state. "Maybe he thought that if he unlocked your ability, that you'd be thankful and go to him?" she suggested.

"Hmm, maybe, or he could've had wrong information. He seemed like he really thought I was going to die after crushing my earrings," Asami offered. Her suggestion seemed more likely and they both agreed. Then Sakura quickly noticed something.

"Wait, you're an Uzumaki like Naruto?" Asami smiled and nodded as Sakura's eyes widened, "Then that means that he'll also be getting some kind of ability too! I wonder what it could be..." However, before they could ponder on the subject, they were interrupted by Sasuke stumbling out from the trunk. Sakura gasped and ran to him when she noticed a strange black tomoe pattern appearing. Sasuke was gasping in pain as he fought against the invading chakra. Sakura quickly started trying to help ease his pain and Asami crawled over, still slightly weak.

"Don't worry Sasuke-kun! Just keep trying to fight against it!" Sakura encouraged the gasping boy. Asami didn't know any iryo ninjutsu that she could use, her chakra control wasn't exactly as good as Sakura's and she didn't want to risk hurting Sasuke, so she instead rummaged for food in her pouch. She smiled as she found the scroll where Naruto had sealed their food supplies. However, it disappeared when she remembered that he was still unconscious. She handed over some food once Sakura had finished and the two nodded gratefully.

Sakura decided to speak first, "I think we should get to the tower, we have both of the scrolls since Orochimaru left us an Earth Scroll. Plus," she looked over at where Naruto was, "We need to bring Naruto somewhere safe and we should also get that mark checked, Sasuke-kun." The boy looked away and sighed. He didn't like how Orochimaru had left behind the scroll for them, but he wasn't going to refuse it.

"Alright, let's head out in three minutes. That should be enough time for us to pack up and leave." The girls nodded and set out to pack. Within three minutes, they were ready and Asami was able to stand without wobbling. Sasuke was in charge of carrying Naruto while the girls took care of the supplies. With a unanimous nod, they jumped off towards the tower.

Tower

Asami and Sakura sighed and flopped onto their beds inside the tower. After opening the scrolls, they met Iruka who started panicking once he saw Naruto. He quickly took their teammate to get treatment while also informing Kakashi that he needed to visit them. Right now, the girls had decided to take a nap, ignoring that they were sweaty, dirty, and had small injuries.

Asami woke up first and noticed that her wounds were already healed. She smiled and thanked her Uzumaki blood before getting up to take a shower. As she exited her room fresh and clean, she met the blonde girl from Suna.

Asami smiled and greeted her, "Hi, you're Temari-san, right?"

Temari raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, that's me. You're Asami-san then?"

Asami smiled and nodded, before she replied, "Yep! Say, do you know where the cafeteria is? I haven't eaten anything other than a granola bar," she added with a small embarrassed blush. Temari blinked a few times before nodding and leading the red haired girl. Asami decided to break the silence, "So were you guys the first team to arrive?"

"...Yeah," Temari replied as she glanced over at the girl, curious as to why she was trying to make conversation.

Asami's smile grew as they reached the cafeteria. She walked over and quickly ordered ebi chili and ramen. Temari raised an eyebrow, those two foods didn't exactly match with each other, but she shook her head and looked back, only to stare and gape. Asami had sat across from her...brother, Gaara.

_Is she suicidal?! _

She shook her head and hoped that Gaara was in a good mood.

Asami sat next to Gaara, but she didn't talk. She was going to wait and see if he would talk first. She wasn't lying when she said she would try to befriend the other red head.

He didn't disappoint.

"Do you need something or did you want to die?"

Asami wasn't very used to hostile comments or questions but tried to ignore her fight or flight senses. She smiled and shook her head.

"I didn't want anything Gaara-san. I just wanted to sit here and eat." She paused briefly, wondering if what she was going to say next would be alright. In the end, she decided to add on. "And maybe become friends with you." She chuckled awkwardly when she felt his killing intent at her. _Okay...maybe I shouldn't have said that, but at least it was the truth. _

She looked over at what he was eating and decided to start a conversation while ignoring the sense of impending doom from Gaara.

"So you like yakitori?"

"If I didn't like it, I wouldn't be eating it," he coldly replied.

"I'll take that as a yes then." Unfortunately for Asami, that was how the conversation went between her and the red haired boy. However, she thought of it as a victory.

_So he likes killing, his Mother, and yakitori. That's not a lot but it's something..._

Gaara stood up, signifying his leave and Asami copied his actions. She smiled and waved him goodbye.

"Oyasumi, Gaara-san! See ya tomorrow!" A sigh left her lips as no reply met her ears. She sat down and looked at her empty plates. It was nice, though the ramen wasn't as good as Ichiraku Ramen. She frowned slightly when she thought of Naruto. He had been refused by the medical staff so Sakura had to take care of him after Iruka-sensei left. The violet eyed girl looked over at the menu and decided to bring her friends some quick snacks.

She walked with a tray of onigiri and tomatoes back to her room where Team Seven was and surveyed the room. There were four beds with nightstands in-between. The walls were plain, accompanied by wooden flooring.

Sasuke lay on his bed next to the window and reached over for a tomato as Asami rolled her eyes with a smile. For all her teammate's cold behavior and toughness, he still loved tomatoes.

Sakura absent-mindedly grabbed an onigiri and nodded in thanks before returning her full attention back on the still unconscious blonde. Her hands started glowing green and her pink brows furrowed in concentration.

Asami smiled as she looked on while munching on an onigiri herself. Sakura was growing stronger every day and was no longer the crazy, rabid fan girl from their Academy days. She still had a soft spot for Sasuke, but she was growing closer to Asami and Naruto, no longer hitting the boy unless she thought he truly deserved it.

_Maybe someday she'll be even stronger than the famous Tsunade-sama, _Asami thought as she opened the window.

"Where're you going?" Sasuke asked nonchalantly.

Asami smiled, "Hmm, I want to get some fresh air for a bit. Don't worry; I'll be on the rooftop."

Despite saying that, Sasuke looked at her dubiously before nodding hesitantly. A red eyebrow rose at her teammate's newfound hesitance and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, if something happens to me, I'll scream out for help Sasuke." The raven haired boy rolled his eyes but nodded and sat next to the window. Sakura giggled at his worry. She thought it was sweet of him to worry over them. It seems like the boy truly thought of them as family now.

"Find something amusing Sakura?"

Sakura smiled happily, "Yep. I just thought of Team Seven like a family." The Uchiha raised a brow, curious of what his ex-fan girl had to say.

"Think about it, Sasuke-kun. Kakashi-sensei would be like the really strange, perverted, but good-hearted uncle. Asami's the happy-go-lucky older sister that helps out but is easily flustered and zones out a lot. I'd be the polite sister with a strong arm that supports you guys and you'd be the really protective older brother with a tsundere attitude."

Sasuke sputtered at the tsundere remark and Sakura laughed out before continuing.

"And lastly, Naruto would be the gold-hearted, loving but super dense, idiot brother we all love and try to protect," she ended with a fond smile. Sasuke stopped an exasperated sigh from escaping but nodded with a smirk.

"Sounds about right. Good analysis, Sakura." The girl blushed but grinned brightly.

"So I guess that means I'm the youngest?" The two turned to look at Naruto who had a fake pout on. It soon disappeared as the three broke out in laughter.

"Say, where's Asami-chan?" Sasuke pointed a thumb out the window and Naruto nodded as his blue eyes noticed the innocent onigiri sitting on a nightstand. He licked his lips in anticipation.

Those poor rice balls never saw it coming.

Three Days Later

"Winner, Hakumei Asami!"

Relief flooded into the girl's body as she panted for breath and winced. It seemed like the Mist genin bruised her rib cage. The girl slowly walked up the stairs to her team, waving off the medical staff. She sat down on a wooden bench where she was berated by Sakura who started to heal her.

"Gomen, gomen, but I didn't see that one kick, Sakura-chan. I was kinda trying to block the senbons he was trying to kill me with."

The pink haired genin rolled her eyes. Before she could continue however, Naruto sat down with a small grin.

"So, when were you able to use hyoton? Last time I checked, only Haku was able to use it."

Asami blushed profoundly as she quickly answered while Shikamaru fought against a Sound genin.

"Well, I guess I'm just special like that." Naruto and Sakura nodded at her short explanation. There were too many ears and they didn't want to let a secret escape out of the village. Sasuke returned and sat down next to Naruto with a frown. He was immediately met with worried looks from his teammates. His frown turned into a scowl.

"I'm fine, quit worrying. The seal just escaped for a moment." The three nodded but Naruto was still worried. He had talked to Kakashi-sensei earlier about the seal. Kakashi had used a seal that depended on the owner's will. The curse seal the Snake Sannin put on Sasuke showing up meant that Sasuke let it happen.

It was worrying for Naruto. He didn't want to lose his friend to revenge and power. What kind of Hokage would let one of their best friends to walk down such a dark path?

_A bad one, _Naruto answered as his gaze lingered on Sasuke briefly before seeing Neji. _Che, the damned fate talking bastard. _

The blonde had seen him beat down on Hinata relentlessly even though she would keep standing up. It baffled Naruto at first and his mouth dropped wide open when he heard the Hyuuga princess proclaim her nindo. It was the same as his. To never go back on his/her words.

They had talked and became something like friends in the Academy. He wasn't sure if they were though. It would've been nice, but he didn't think that a princess would like to be the village pariah's friend. _She deserves better, _he thought sadly. _But, no matter what, I'm going to beat that smirk off of Neji's face! For Hinata-chan!_

"-ruto? Oi, Naruto?!" The blonde blinked a bit before blushing and rubbed the back of his head. "Mou, and you guys say that I'm the sister that zones out a lot," Asami teased with a smile.

"Hehe, sorry. I was thinking about something."

"Humph, 'bout time you started. No wonder it took so long, baka," Sasuke pointed out with a smirk.

"Hey! Shut up teme! I can think faster than you during spars!"

A black eyebrow rose up, "Really? I'm pretty sure the score was 10-8 and in my favor, otouto."

Naruto sputtered without a response and Sasuke grinned in victory. Sakura laughed alongside with Asami as the pinkette put her hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Alright boys. I think that's enough now. You gotta stop giving Sasuke-kun so much to use against you, otouto."

"Aww! But I would've won it right, Asami-chan?" Naruto asked as he pouted playfully.

Asami giggled and flicked his nose. "Hehehe, nice try, but maybe next time, otouto."

"Hey?! Why're you guys ganging up on me?"

"Oi, can you guys shut up? You're really loud." The four looked over and spotted Kankuro walking with Temari. Before any of the Leaf genin could retort back, a loud and sickening crunch echoed throughout the room. Gasps were heard as the four turned their attention to the floor and spotted Gaara clenching his fist with Lee surrounded in sand and yelling out in pain.

"Lee!"

"Lee-kun!"

"Lee-san!"

His cry was cut short by Gai jumping in to save his precious student. Anger flared from the Leaf nin except for one-Asami.

She was confused. Hopelessly, utterly confused. Not to mention a bit hurt. _Why did he break his promise? He said he wouldn't hurt any of my friends. _

Her amethyst colored eyes tried to catch the boy's jade colored eyes, but he wouldn't look up for a few seconds. When she saw them, she expected madness, but instead saw something else flicker in them. He turned away before she could decipher it and walked calmly back to the stands while the green, spandex wearing boy was rushed to an emergency room.

_**Asami sighed and smiled as she looked up at the night sky. The twinkling stars were relaxing and reminded her of her mother's eyes that twinkled with mischief, signaling that Asami was in for a tickle attack. The night air wasn't very cold, but still carried wisps of fresh air. **_

_**"It's quite nice tonight ne, Gaara-san?" She looked over at the boy with a smile. However, instead of a wave or greeting, sand rushed at her and she saw the intent of harm. **_

_**She dodged at the last moment and her hands quickly sealed the snake. **_

_**"Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!" Water rushed at the Sand genin as Asami aimed to take out his great sand defense. As the sand turned to mud, Asami stopped the unrelenting amount of water from her mouth. She coughed and wiped her lips. Moving on, she sealed once more. "Hyoton: Fubuki!" The water froze and along with it, the sand.**_

_**Looking up, she saw shock in the green eyes. **_

_**"W-why? Why didn't you attack me?" Gaara whispered, stunned and confused. Despite Asami's attack, the only thing drenched and frozen was his sand; otherwise, the genin was dry. **_

_**"Because I didn't want to hurt you. I just wanted to stop your sand from attacking me, Gaara-san."**_

_**"Are you stupid? I could kill you."**_

_**Asami grimaced, "Yeah, I know you could. But would you be free of guilt if you did?" **_

_**Gaara met her eyes in confusion. He didn't know what guilt was. Asami walked forwards and stopped in front of him, still prepared to flee if needed, but close enough to not be invading his personal space. **_

_**She pointed to his heart and Gaara was briefly reminded of when He explained what pain and love was. **_

_**"Guilt is what you feel after you do something wrong...something that didn't feel right. It makes you feel disgusted with yourself and once you feel it, you can either ignore it or acknowledge it and try to redeem yourself."**_

_**"..." Gaara didn't respond, but he seemed to be listening so Asami continued on.**_

_**"If you ignore it, it's like pretending that you aren't you. We all make mistakes, Gaara-san, and when do, it's guilt that makes us try better so that we don't fail. Mistakes are a part of us, just like how our pasts are."**_

_**Asami dropped her hand from his heart and sat by his side, ignoring the sand that could kill her if she wasn't careful. The boy could easily break her hyoton technique with enough chakra and manipulate his sand again.**_

_**"My mother told me that you know," she looked up at the safe sky once more and smiled. "I've always looked up to her. Ever since she passed away, I only have the memories of her lessons, her voice, pictures, and jutsus. However, I won't ever forget them-her lessons mainly. I love my mom, Gaara-san, and I would do whatever I can to keep her smiling and happy."**_

_**Gaara didn't know why she was talking to him like nothing had happened, and he really didn't know why he felt his own mouth open to talk despite his Mother yelling and screaming at him. **_

_**"I...I also lost my mother, but I know that she's always with me. She's the sand that defends me. She also speaks to me in my mind..." **_

_**Asami blinked a few times at the last sentence. **_**His mom is inside his head? How does that work? **_**She wondered silently. **_

**Hmm, time for a conversation starter!**_** Asami thought as a pregnant silence filled the air. **_

_**"So, what's your goal in life Gaara-kun?"**_

_**The boy stared blankly at her and she chuckled, "Gomen, I can call you that right? That's what I call my friends."**_

_**"Friends?" Gaara looked shocked and confused. Asami found it somewhat amusing on his usually stoic face. **_

_**She smiled brightly and nodded, "Sure, why not?"**_

_**"I just tried to kill you."**_

_**"Asami." Another blank look, she sighed, "That's my name. Feel free to use **__**it. I don't charge anyone for using it so there's no interest either. Go on and give it a try, Gaara-kun."**_

_**"You didn't answer my question...Asami."**_

**No suffix, but I guess that's better than 'you' or something else, **_**she thought sweat dropping. **_

_**"Hehe, you're really perceptive, Gaara-san, but to answer your question of why we're friends, well I guess that's because I want to be friends with you."**_

_**Asami chuckled when she saw that he was still waiting for an elaborate explanation. **_

_**"It's your eyes." She met his green orbs with a sad smile. "They remind me of Naruto's." **_

_**Asami laughed when she saw his face. **_

_**"It's nothing to be mad or upset about Gaara-kun. You guys both have eyes **__**that radiate loneliness, neglect, unfair hatred that's been cast upon you, and pain from betrayals and brutal acts. Naruto's slowly starting to heal from those past wounds. But that's only because he had people to support him. I know that this may sound rude or mean, but from what I've seen, you've...you've been alone for a long time, haven't you?"**_

_**Asami paused as she waited for a response. **_**Did I go too far? I hope not...**_**she thought as she tried to look at his eyes. **_

_**"Do you win something if we become friends?"**_

_**"Yes, I do." She paused and met his angry glare before continuing with a smile. **_

_**"I get to be friends with you. There's nothing more precious than a bond, Gaara-san. Naruto would say the same thing too. Bonds, they make people do strange things, kinda like love actually. Both have no logic and just happen, sometimes with lots of hard work, sometimes it just happens. When a bond is broken or a love is lost, it hurts so much that it seems almost as if there's nothing else that matters."**_

_**"But," the red head continued, "You can't forget other bonds because if you fall, they'll catch you and help you make a new bond or find a new love. And when you do, it's the best feeling in the world! That, Gaara-kun, is the reason why I want to be friends with you. I want to help you when you've fallen and celebrate when you're happy! After all, that's what friends are for, Gaara-san."**_

_**A long silence fell and it quickly became uncomfortable for Asami. A blush appeared on her cheeks as she spoke out once more. **_

_**"O-of course you don't have to agree if you don't want to! I-I don't want to force you or anything! That doesn't mean I don't want to be friends though! Gah! I-I'm sorry, I'm starting to ramble on-"**_

_**"Kun."**_

_**The flustered girl paused, confused, "Eh?"**_

_**Gaara looked over and into her eyes for once. "Change the suffix back to -kun. After all," he paused and looked away, flinching, "We...we're friends right?"**_

_**Asami smiled happily and before the boy could dodge, glomped...er...launched herself at him. **_

_**"Hahaha! Yay, I've made a new friend!" She giggled in pure delight, but blushed and started apologizing when she noticed how stiff Gaara was. "S-sorry, I got carried away, Gaara-kun..."**_

_**Gaara remained silent, but nodded slightly, still confused at her actions. **_

_**"Hmm, so do you have a goal Gaara-kun? You never answered my question."**_

_**"I," he paused as he thought and Asami sat patiently, "I want people to acknowledge my existence."**_

_**"Is that why you kill? Hmm, there are better ways but I guess you're going to have to get stronger huh?" Gaara nodded, looking up at the sky and wincing every now and then. **_

_**Asami bit her lip. **_**Whoever this "Mother" is, doesn't like what we're talking about if she's shouting at him or something. I guess I'll just try to comfort him with talk. **

_**"Then you'll need good bonds, Gaara-kun. Bonds will make you stronger and will acknowledge your existence so you won't always need to kill." Thinking of Haku's sacrifice for Zabuza, she asked, "Do you have anyone precious you want to protect? That'll also help too."**_

_**Gaara thought about it. He was ignoring Mother since she was ranting about how if she escaped, she'd kill Asami in the most gruesome ways possible. **_

_**There was Temari and Kankuro, they were his siblings, but the problem was that they didn't act like siblings. They were terrified of him and he was sure they probably hated him too. **_

_**Baki was another possibility, but he was ruled out once again. Baki was just there to make sure that when he went on a killing spree, those who were supposed to survive would and that if it was unneeded, he would stop Gaara. **_

_**His last family member was the Kazekage, or more specially, his father. **_**No, **_**Gaara decided, **_**That man has never been my father. He has always been distant and hates me. **

_**He thought hard. He didn't have any friends in Suna, the kids were too scared of him and the adults feared him too, so they all hated him. He looked back at Asami and instead asked her the question. **_

_**Asami smiled fondly, "Yeah, I've got friends and comrades I can rely on. I suppose the closest ones would be Team Seven since they're like a second family. Then I have my own family of course. Next would be the rest of the genin teams of my generation. Specifically, Teams Eight and Ten. There's also Team Gai and although I don't like one guy on there, I like everyone else on it, despite their youthfulness," she added with a grin at his interest. **_

_**"There's also my old Academy teacher, Iruka-sensei, the ramen stand owner Teuchi-jiji and his daughter, Ayame-nee-san, and of course there's also my Hokage, Sarutobi-jiji, who's like my grandfather!"**_

_**"Are they all precious bonds?" Asami nodded enthusiastically with a thousand watt grin. **_

_**"And now, there's also you too, Gaara-kun!"**_

_**"...I see. Then you would be my first bond, Asami."**_

_**She blushed profoundly and smiled, "Thanks Gaara-kun. I'm pretty lucky that I get to be your first bond! Although, I'll do my best to help you make more bonds so I won't be your only precious person," she added with a softer smile. **_

_**Gaara nodded before hesitantly asking, "What do I do with bonds? I don't see how you become stronger."**_

_**"Hmm, you become stronger because you want to protect them. I want to do whatever I can for them, and plus, if I want to accomplish my goals, I'll have to become stronger!"**_

_**"So you won't let anyone hurt them?" Asami nodded. "I see...I will grow strong to protect my bonds then, Asami." He was once again, caught off guard **__**as she leapt at him.**_

_**"You finally called me by my name, Gaara- kun! I was starting to think you had forgotten it!" He had frozen again, not used to human contact, but for some reason, he didn't mind her jumping at him. **_

_**Asami laughed at her new friend's face as she got off of him. She had pushed him down unto the rooftop in all her happiness. **_

_**"I will also protect you too, Gaara-kun! I promise," she held out her pink finger and motioned for him to copy her actions. It was a new experience for the boy but he held out his pinky anyways. **_

_**"I promise that I will protect you and your precious people, Gaara-kun!"**_

_**"I will do the same, Asami."**_

"Come on Asami-chan." She looked over at Naruto who had a grim look on his face.

"We've got a month to get stronger before we fight. Let's go and see our opponents. I hope I get Neji-teme." Asami nodded as the victorious genin walked down to the floor.

There were only ten genin left and after picking out a random piece of paper, looked up to see who their opponents were for the first round. The rounds in order were:

1. Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji

2. Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari

3. Hakumei Asami vs. Haruno Sakura

4. Uchiha Sasuke vs. Aburame Shino

5. Sabaku no Gaara vs. Sabaku no Kankuro

Naruto looked at Neji with determination which was met with an infuriating smirk. Naruto swore to himself, he would not lose, especially after how Neji treated Hinata! Neji was confident with his skills. Fate was smiling upon him or perhaps mocking him, giving him a weak, dead last to fight. _This will be easy. _

Shikamaru groaned and mumbled "troublesome". Of course, he just _had_ to get a girl to fight against. Temari heard the mumble and scowled. _How dare he underestimate me! _She thought furiously. She would not let herself live it down if she lost to him.

Asami looked over at Sakura and nodded with a look of determination along with a smile. They would do their best in their upcoming fight with no hard feelings after.

Sasuke glanced at the bug user and nodded. The fight between the two was going to be tough. The kikaichu would be annoying so the fight was going to have to be quick. _But it had to be somewhat flashy to show that I know what to do in order to become a chuunin, _he added and mentally reminded himself to perfect and learn more fire and lightning jutsus, those would be helpful. Shino calmly looked at his opponent. He quickly came to the conclusion of a basic strategy plan; last as long as possible for his kikaichu to absorb most of the raven haired boy's chakra. _I will need to work on evasion and speed. Why? Because it will help extend the fight for my kikaichu to work._

Kankuro was slightly worried. They had planned that, if this were to happen, he would simple forfeit. The puppet wielder hoped that his younger brother didn't want to fight him. He didn't look over at Gaara, it would've been too much for him to handle if it was correct. Gaara had no reason of looking over at the older boy so he didn't. He knew Kankuro's fighting style; after all, they had trained together ever since they could mold their chakra. Instead, he focused on trying to make sense of what Mother was telling him while ignoring whenever she told him to kill Asami or any of her precious people. _Asami, _he looked over at the redhead who was walking out of the ring with her team.

He knew Asami wanted answers from his battle with Rock Lee.

He had felt the anger flaring from the Konoha genin except for her. She seemed confused and somewhat saddened.

The boy wondered if he should talk to Asami, his first...bond. He didn't know what to do or say, but he felt something sharp and dull in his chest. _Is this...guilt?_

He walked out of the room, knowing that Temari and Kankuro would leave him alone. He needed time to think about what needed to be done in a month and to leave before he started listening to what Mother told him to do.

Ichiraku Ramen

Team Seven sighed as they reached Ichiraku Ramen. Teuchi immediately started cooking their meals, already knowing what they would order.

As Naruto slurped the rest of his noodles down, he left out a breath before grinning.

"Man, I can't believe we've gotten this far!"

Asami smiled as she joined him in nostalgia. "I'm glad that we're doing well though. I hope we all become Chuunin."

"That'd be nice!" Sakura added, "If that happened, there'd be a chance that we'd be working together ne?"

"Hn-Oi! What the hell was that for dobe?!"

"You were just gonna 'hn' and leave it at that teme! Don't think that I wouldn't know!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes before he retorted with a smirk, "At least you'll use your brain to try and figure out what I meant. Or are you too stupid, usuratonkachi?"

"Oi! I use my-Ouch! Hey what was that for, Sakura-chan?! Why are you hitting me and why is Asami-chan letting you?!"

The girls rolled their eyes before breaking out in grins. "Because we agree with each other," they replied at the same time.

"Plus you guys have already had that fight," Asami added with a soft smile. Naruto huffed and crossed his arms before he remembered his ramen that was calling him.

"So do you guys know who you're training with?" Naruto asked as he ordered another bowl, ignoring the stares from his teammates.

Asami shook her at both her friend's actions and for an answer. "Nope. Kakashi-sensei's a nice choice, but he'll probably train with Sasuke instead since they both have the Sharingan."

Sasuke nodded slightly as he absentmindedly rubbed the cursed seal at the base of his neck.

Naruto frowned, he really didn't want Sasuke to use that seal. That meant that he had to quickly come up with a counter seal and find a way to get rid of the Five Element Seal the Snake Sannin had placed on him. It was interrupting his chakra control and although it was pretty bad, he was able to wrestle it enough so that his seals would work.

"You have anyone in mind, Naruto?"

Naruto shrugged, "Nope, well not really. I just need someone who can help me with my chakra control and my seals." There wasn't really anyone in Konoha who really knew seals except for the Sandaime, Yondaime, and the Toad Sage, Jiraiya. Of course every shinobi knew the basics like sealing scrolls and explosive tags, but those three were either masters or close to masters.

"You could try asking Sandaime-sama, Naruto. If I remember correctly, he taught the Toad Sage, Jiraiya, who taught the Yondaime. I don't know where Jiraiya-sama is and the Yondaime is dead, so that leaves Hokage-sama," Sakura explained.

"Hmm, I guess I could talk to the Old Man," the blonde replied thoughtfully, crossing his arms.

"Do you have anyone in mind, Sakura-chan?" Asami asked her friend as she finished her ramen.

Sakura smiled weakly. "Well, I'd love it if I had Tsunade-sama teaching me, but that's not possible so I'll go and see if I can find anyone who knows some good genjutsus."

"How about Team Eight's sensei? I heard that she was a genjutsu specialist," Sasuke offered. He had been nibbling on cherry tomatoes and some onigiri as he listened. His neck slightly bothered him still, but he was trying his best to ignore it. He had many things he was trying to ignore. There were his teammate's "secret" worried glances, Orochimaru's seal and what he meant about finding him for power, his revenge for his clan, and what he was going to do in the future.

It was nice to know that they were worried and cared about him, but he could take care of himself. As for Orochimaru, there was no way in his life that he was going to the Snake Sannin, especially for power. He could get that without any extra help; after all, he could go to Kakashi. Revenge although important to him, was going to have to wait until he was strong enough to defeat Itachi. Yes, he had decided that although the man was a murderer, he still had a name and...He was still his older brother. Lastly, his future. That was something that he had never thought about before Naruto started speaking about becoming the Hokage in detail. Now, he didn't know what to do. After he killed Itachi, what was he going to do? He could start his clan but that (he shuddered) meant that he had to marry and do THAT with _them _to get kids.

The Uchiha jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was the dobe. "Hey, you alright teme? You just shuddered."

"Hn," He quickly added when he felt his teammates' glares, "It's nothing."

Asami raised an eyebrow but nodded. "You know, maybe I'll go with you to visit Sarutobi-jiji. He might have a few ideas of how some of the jutsus work. Otherwise, I guess I can just use my Ninjutsu book."

"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed as she quickly remembered something, "Asami-chan, you never did explain how you could use Hyoton! Is it because of your mother and your chakra?"

The copper haired girl blushed and nodded. "Yep! It's...one step to my goal of mastering the five elements!" A few eyebrows rose at this, but they all seemed to accept it.

Naruto had been told back in the Academy so he didn't mind, plus he thought it would be cool if his ANBU Captain knew and mastered the five elements. Sakura, although shocked, thought it would've been possible since she could already do two elements with ease. What was three more and mastering all five? Sasuke, well he thought that if the dobe could become Hokage, then her mastering the five elements would be possible. He also wondered if she would be willing to trade a few of her techniques if he did the same...

Asami paused and looked at her teammates. So far, none of them seemed to object to her dream. _I hope that they don't laugh..._

Sasuke was the first to break the silence that started to grow. "Hn, seems like you have a tough road ahead then. If the dobe can become the Hokage, then it'll be possible for you to achieve it."

Naruto nodded and smiled, before he quickly frowned at the last sentence, "Hey! What the hell?! What do you mean by that teme?!"

The dark eyed boy shrugged and smirked, "What do you think it means?"

The blonde sputtered for an answer and Asami smiled as Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Mou, Naruto, I thought you would've supported Asami-chan and her goal!"

"E-eh?! B-but I do!"

He switched his gaze to the other girl, "I do support you, Asami-chan! I believe in you! And I'll do whatever I can to help you like you've done for me! I promise, and I never go back on my words! It's my nindo!" He grinned and winked as he did the good guy pose. Asami blinked a few times before she started to giggle. She held onto her stomach as it grew into a full blown laugh and just like a night ago, she jumped at her blonde friend and glomped him.

"Thanks, Naru-chan! Thanks for believing in me guys!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes good-naturedly and smiled. "What kind of brother and teammate would I be if I didn't believe in you?" he asked rhetorically.

"You guys believe in me, it's the least I could do to do the same," Sakura added with a bright smile.

The blonde rubbed the back of his head, slightly embarrassed as he was backed up. "Man, you guys are really mean though." At the blank looks he continued as his prankster side crackled. "You guys all ganged up on me again!"

"Hn, deal with it, otouto," Sasuke finished with a smirk.

Konoha Streets

The streets were filled with people who talked and laughed out loud. It was strange.

A red haired boy carrying a large gourd on his back slowly walked through the bustling streets with no clear destination in mind. Gaara had been walking around as he tried to think. He was intelligent, but it was hard to think when Mother kept shouting at him to kill every living thing. He had an entire month to himself and he didn't know what to do. He glanced around and noticed the looks the villagers gave him. They stared at times, but they didn't seem hostile, more curious instead.

He didn't want to kill, but he only had one bond, Asami. She had told him that the more he had, the stronger he would be. Perhaps he would start with Temari and Kankuro? They were siblings after all so that made since. But how to fix their relationship?

A shout from a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts. His gaze turned and saw four people sitting at a ramen stand. He couldn't see their faces, but he knew them. It was Team Seven.

He stopped and looked on at the interaction. In a way, it was strange to see the red haired girl hug the blonde in a similar way she did with him. A feeling rose within him and he didn't like it. Gaara was used to knowing how he felt. It was usually madness, anger, and indifference. This however, was something new to him. It was Mother's voice that made him move.

**What are you doing?! Move! I want blood! I want to see their guts!**

His body had almost responded, but he stopped himself. He would be breaking his promise again, and he felt that if he did, he would experience guilt again. Instead, he started walking away from the scene. _Bonds huh? Will I be recognized by them?_

**Thanks for the review Tensa-Zangetsu102. As for the spacing problem I've been trying to figure out why it's not changing even though I've already edited the chapter. It shows up fine when I'm reviewing/editing it but I'll see what I can do to fix this problem!**

**Hope this chapter isn't too bad. I still think Gaara's OOC and I've been trying to get him back into character, but it's a lot harder done than said...I have a majority of my own arcs outlined so that's nicely taken care of though. **

**Yep, that's right! I'm starting to move on with the story! This chapter here, is the last of The Beginning chapters/part! Yay! Oh, and if you were wondering when I was going to make Asami into a "BAMF" *cough* sis *cough* then, you'll be happy to know that I'm starting to make her stronger now.**

**The next update will be one last omake to finish off the last of The Beginning omakes. I might add more (unlikely but possible), but they should be fitting with the sections/parts. The next update will probably be in another two, maybe three weeks since I've got more reports to write and there's state testing next week...**

**As for the romance...It's slowly starting to kick in? I'm sorry if it seems really...bad. I'll try working on making Asami and Gaara's relationship smoother and less cheesy. The romance will be hard for me to write without cheese so you'll have to bear with it (_). I'll confess, I love cheesy, sappy, fluffy, sometimes cliche, romances!**

**Thanks for sticking around and reading this story! I'll do my best to continue on!**


	11. Omake 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my OC, these omakes, and some plot points I'm creating.  
**

**Hope you enjoy this! I'm working on the next chapter to the story right now since I'm done with testing and most of the projects.**

**Thanks to: MarlyHarkness, NightSky98, NinjaOfSilence, Rimmlim, Uchiha no Kaori, destined to be me, ireallyloveanime, moonlightjasmine, xXYuseiXAkikoXx for favoriting!**

**I'm sorry if it's annoying listing everyone's names, but I really am thankful to everyone!**

**Thank you! :D (lol, did you see what I did there?...Sorry, that was lame...Enjoy the omake!)**

* * *

Phase Two and The Talk

"So what did you want to talk to me about Asami-chan?" Naruto asked as his friend prepared breakfast for him. The girl had started doing so ever since she found out his unhealthy eating habits.

Said girl had her hair in a high ponytail and wore a white apron with colorful poka dots. Asami had been planning about this talk for a week now and she didn't like seeing Hinata's sad face at seeing her crush paying attention to another girl.

Her plan was simple. Talk to him where he's comfortable and happy.

Naruto liked his potted plants at home and her cooking. If she talked to him in the morning, then he'd had time to think and act. She was going to make him realize that Sakura is nice, but she's not the right one. However, she needed to find out why he liked her in the first place in order to show him that it's not love when you're hit by someone and scolded by them like a misbehaving puppy. She knew her friend was smart, he was just slightly oblivious at times.

"Well I was just wondering about how you think of the girls in our class." She decided that she'd go slowly and ask a few questions to make him think. She walked over to her friend and carried their breakfast over.

"Hmm, well I honestly have little hope for our class except for you, Hinata-chan, Ino-chan, and Sakura-chan. Everyone else is just a fan girl of Sasuke-teme!" He grumbled a bit as he thought about their dark haired classmate.

Asami sweatdropped before muttering 'Itadakimasu' and eating. Her blonde friend's rivalry with the boy was widely known, but unfortunately, he had always lost to his declared challenges. It made her young blood boil when people made fun of her friend after his losts, but it quickly disapeared with Naruto's good-natured grins and promises of next time.

Asami paused, for some reason, Sasuke had looked shocked at the blonde when he said that the first time. She didn't know why, but it was something that had caught the raven off guard. The violet eyed girl made a mental note to find the reason and filed it away.

"Oi? Asami-chan? Did you hear what I said?"

Asami blushed and shook her head, "Sorry Naru-chan."

The blonde sighed and repeated himself, "I was wondering why you were asking me?"

She shrugged in return, "Well, if you're going to be Hokage, I thought you might as well start working on your analyzing skills." Naruto raised an eyebrow but kept quiet.

"So what do you think of the girls that has a chance of passing?"

"Well," the blonde paused and thought a bit before continuing, "I know that you'll definitely pass and do good since you've got that Ninjutsu book. Your skills are okay. I'm pretty sure they could be better, but that's in the future." He stopped and took a few bites of his breakfast.

"Hinata-chan's the heiress of the Hyuuga so her future's pretty much set, but there seems to be something...tense about it too. Her chakra control's really good since she need's good control for her Byakugan and the Gentle Fist. Stamina's not too good, but I've seen how flexible she can be so that can help make up for that and her speed. Her strength is alright, could be stronger but it's a lot better than the girls in our class. I'm kinda worried about her health though, she always seems to have a fever and she'll faint at times too..." Asami smiled at her friend's obliviousness. Her friend may be able to create new seals that most jonin would find complicated and confusing, but he was still completely oblivious to the gentle girl's feelings.

"Ino-chan is good with her mind techniques and her accuracy's really good too. I'm not too suprised since she's a Yamanaka. She'll probably work more on gathering information and maybe if she gets over her school girl crush, she could probably take her father's old position as the T&I Head. Stamina and strength sucks though. She's smart, but otherwise, she probably couldn't last very long in a one-on-one fight with someone like Hinata since she uses close-ranged attacks."

"And Sakura-chan?" Asami asked curiously. She wanted to see what the blonde would say about his crush.

He hesitated, not wanting to say anything bad about his crush, but it needed to be said.

"...She...she's pretty bad at just about everything not related to knowledge from textbooks. I think she's got really good chakra control, probably better than Hinata-chan, but I can't be very sure since...since she hasn't really done much other than fawning over Sasuke-teme. She can hit really hard, but that's only from experience and because she's usually mad..." He winced and rubbed his head. He never did understand why she kept hitting him. He thought girl's liked getting attention and being asked out on dates. "Stamina's really bad, accuracy's alright, and there's no doubt that she'd lose quickly if she went up against you or Hinata-chan...She's really smart though! If she places a genjutsu properly and cleverly, then there's a..a small chance she could win..." Naruto finished softly and sighed before his tan hand combed through messy blonde hair.

"Damn it...You know, you're really manipulating right?" Naruto muttered looking away. She was using something he had said a few years ago against him.

When Sarutobi had asked the two about who they wanted as an ideal spouse/partner, he had replied that he wanted a girl who could take care of herself in tough situations. If he was to become Hokage, Naruto knew that his family would be targeted and that he wouldn't always be there to protect them. He wanted a wife who could take care of herself in tight situations, someone who would fight in perfect sync with him. As of now, Asami was the only who could really keep up with him during their spars. Sakura was barely able to keep up physically with the class.

"Then why do you like Sakura-chan, Naru-chan?"

"...Because I thought that we were similar Asami-chan. We were both teased ya know? I think she was teased for her forehead or something like that. I thought that maybe we could connect with each other through that..." Asami got up and walked over to her friend who was starting to notice something. Carefully, she pulled him into a comforting hug as he continued talking softly.

"I guess I was wrong huh? I don't know why but she just keeps hitting me and yells at me whenever I ask her out or when I proclaim my love for her...I don't get Asami-chan, I thought girls liked it when guys did that?"

Asami chuckled, "Yeah, we do, but we usually want it from the guy that we really like. I'm sorry, Naru-chan but I don't think she likes you that way..."

Naruto fought back the sting in his eyes, he had to be strong, he couldn't cry. "But I love her Asami-chan..."

"Do you Naru-chan? How do you know it's love? Maybe it's something else? I don't know what love is either, but I don't think love is when you get hit and yelled at..I'm sorry, Naru-chan." For a long time, possible half an hour, they stayed in that position. Asami held her friend, comforting him as he thought hard about his feelings.

"Hey, what do you want in a relationship, Asami-chan? What do you want when you're married? I never heard your answer to Sarutobi-jiji."

She smiled gently as she answered, "I want him to be there for me Naru-chan. I want to be strong to protect him but I'd also like it if he can take care of himself. I want him to talk to me, smile for me, laugh with me, and stay by my side through everything-good times and bad times."

Naruto looked up with confusion, "That's it? Nothing else like buying you everything you want or taking you out on romantic dates?"

"Yep, because in the end, there's nothing better than him showing me how much he loves me more than his actions and words."

"Do you think I could be someone else's ideal husband, Asami-chan? Can I really stay and make someone happy?"

"Of course!" Asami thought of the shy Hinata who had a crush on Naruto. She admired him for his determination, his never give up attitude, and his bravery/courage. The girl didn't seem to mind when Naruto was doing something rude. "There's always someone out there who'll love you for you, Naru-chan! Don't give up just because of Sakura-chan's rejections! Don't forget Naru-chan, I believe in you. I believe that you'll become the greatest Hokage of Konoha and that you'll find a nice girl that loves you for you!"

Said boy blushed and rubbed the back of his head, "Hehehe, thanks Asami-chan. Man I get the feeling that the future's gonna be tough, but I feel that it'll be fine..." Asami smiled and thumped her friend on the back.

"That's the spirit Naru-chan! Now let's reheat breakfast ne? I guess I can teach you something new too!"

"Alright! Bring it on, Asami-chan! I promise I won't burn the eggs this time!"

_Now that he's changed his feelings about Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan has a chance now! Everything's up to the two now!_

Phase Two complete-Phase Three start!


	12. The Middle-Preparation!

Hokage Tower

An old eyebrow rose as the owner looked at the two genin in front of him. Sarutobi sighed; he had a feeling that this was going to happen. He had finished a stack of paperwork and was about to start on his last stack when the two had entered. The blonde and red head wanted to know if there was anyone he could recommend for the two. _I believe that he should be back by now, probably doing some "research". _

"Naruto." The boy perked up and the Hokage smiled at the eagerness, "Go to the bath houses. I believe he should already be there. You'll just need to impress him, but I'm sure you'll be able to do it." The blonde raised an eyebrow but nodded and waved as he set off to find his new sensei.

The auburn haired girl was a bit harder for Sarutobi. He needed someone with scrolls of knowledge as her sensei. Someone who knew and could explain the theory behind jutsus. He sighed mentally, who was he kidding? He stood up from his chair and motioned for the girl to follow him.

"Are we going to meet him or her, Sarutobi-jiji?" she asked as she followed obediently**. **

He paused and turned around with a small smile. "Yes, I believe you've met the man before. He was the one that gave you and Naruto your books about four years ago." Her violet eyes widened as she remembered the young man with bright red hair and green eyes.

"You mean Hotaru-san?"

"Yes, that's the one. However, he does not live in the Fire Country. Ah, there he is, I'll let him tell you himself, Asami." Both looked over as a vortex of water slowly appeared and a man stepped out with a large, bashful grin.

He waved as he walked over, "Wow, never thought I'd be back here again, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi nodded, "It's nice to see that you are well, Hotaru-san. I'm sorry to have to call you back here back, but I believe your skills would be helpful for Asami here."

He raised an eyebrow to accompany his grin, "Well shucks, you've grown up quite a bit haven't you, little miss?" Asami blushed and nodded. "Hmm, you really do remind me of your mother you know? Although the hair's bit darker than her's," he mumbled the last statement.

"R-really?!" Asami smiled with happiness. She had always wanted to be like her mother.

Hotaru walked over and patted her head, "Yep...Almost act like her too..." He commented as his grin fell to a sad smile.

Sarutobi coughed, getting the younger man's attention. "I'd like for you to train her for thirty days. She's made it to the Chuunin Finals and will be fighting. Can you do this?"

The green eyed man looked back, shrugged and grinned once more. "Sure, why not? I'd like to see Asami's skills myself."

"Alright then, I'll leave her in your hands then, Hotaru-san. Good luck Asami."

"Thanks Sarutobi-jiji!" As the Hokage walked back to his office, Asami turned to the other red head and couldn't help but let her curiosity get the better of her. "So where did you go Hotaru-san? Sarutobi-jiji didn't tell me anything!"

He chuckled and messed with her hair, "Hehe, well I usually stay at the Land of Hot Water since it reminds me of my old home actually."

"Your old home?"

"Yeah...it's...it's not there anymore, miss. It's been destroyed for about twenty years now." His green eyes looked back up at the sky and over at another direction.

Asami bit her lip. _Did I upset him? _"S-sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright, miss. I know ya didn't mean to pry," he cut in. He had another grin on and Asami wondered if he was always grinning like Naruto. "Let's go to a training ground shall we? I think I remember where one was." Hotaru grabbed Asami and used shunshin, taking her to an unfamiliar training ground. "Your mother used to bring me here with Kushina-nee whenever I visited," he explained as he looked around in nostalgia.

"Who's Kushina-nee?"

"Hehe, a relative of mine," he replied with a cheeky smile. Asami pouted, he obviously didn't want to divulge any further even though he brought up the name. "Anyway, let's get training. You're not wearing Hitomi's earrings anymore so you probably already know about the Uzumaki chakra abilities, right?" She nodded. "Good. Now then, if you haven't figured out yet, I'm also an Uzumaki myself. However, my chakra abilities are less battle-oriented than your mother's. As strange as it is, I'm able to tell all of the abilities of any shinobi-dead or alive. I just have to know the name and how they look. Although it's a lot faster if I can get something from them like blood, a chakra signature, hair, or even a piece of clothing."

"Wow! Can you tell me what I can do then?!" Asami asked with excitement.

"Hehe, sure. I was actually planning on doing it earlier anyway. Now stay quiet so I can concentrate." He sat down, crisscrossed and although Asami wanted to ask him more questions, she kept quiet.

Hotaru took a deep breath and the world became deathly silent. Within his mind, he saw a large library that seemed to go on forever. Using Asami's chakra signature, he quickly saw a bright glow, leading him to a blank book. It was a familiar sensation as the glow enveloped him. He saw letters and numbers spring forth onto the pages as they filled up with information about the girl in front of him. All of the jutsus she knew to her basic stats like stamina. He nodded his head as he finished.

"Well, it seems like you've got a lot of potential, miss!"

"Really?"

"Yep. From the information I got I'd say that your own ability is similar to your mother's, but more versatile." He grinned, her ability was amazing. "You can use all five elements and even combine them together. Of course it'll take a while for you to learn so many jutsus, but it's possible."

He smiled as he noticed her bunch up as she prepared to hug him. The sight was familiar and his smile grew as she glomped him. He patted her back as he thought back to when Hitomi had told him of her marriage or his reunion with Kushina. Yeah, those "hugs" hurt more than anything he'd ever gone through, but at least they were happy.

When she pulled back, she was excited and couldn't keep still. "So when do we begin training! I want to be able to use it to the fullest!" She blushed as he chuckled and patted her head again.

"Well then, let's get started shall we? Hmm I think we'll start up with fifty push-ups, sit-ups, and a few katas. Then we'll have a one-on-one battle before we have lunch, sound fair little miss?" She stared at him for a bit before nodding slowly.

As she stood up, she asked him, "Ne Hotaru-san, why do you call me 'miss'?" However, she pouted when he grinned cheekily and told her, "Hehe, maybe I'll tell you if you can land a hit on me when we fight. I may not have an ability that's battle-oriented, but I can still fight pretty well."

She grinned; determine to land a hit on him later. She could already see all the possibilities with her chakra abilities. With five elements at her disposal, she could help Naruto and the rest of Team Seven. Water, fire, earth, wind, and lightning, she was going to master them all and protect everyone dear to her!

"So when are you going to start with your push-ups little miss? We don't have all day ya know!" The red head said as he stretched and lay out on the ground with a mischievous smile. Asami sighed as she started stretching. This would be one step to her goal...

Hot Springs

Naruto walked with his arms behind his head. He was wondering what he needed to show to impress his sensei in order to convince him or her to train him. _I wonder if they can help with Sasuke's curse seal? Should I show them a new seal I've been working on?_ Naruto had been working on a new seal as a side project. He was starting to improve on his version of the Hirashin, making it so that the entire Team Seven could use the jutsu.

As he walked by, Naruto heard giggling from somewhere. The blonde paused momentarily, looking around for the source and his head shot up once more, picking out where it came from. Silently, he moved behind the source by jumping on a tree branch and stared momentarily. There was an old man with long, spikey white hair wearing a green short kimono with matching pants. He also wore a red haori and traditional geta. The old man was squatting over, furiously scribbling down something on a notepad. Naruto looked at the man's face and recognized it instantly.

It was the face of a happy pervert.

_Wait a second, is that pervert the one that's supposed to be teaching me?! _Naruto realized as he watched the man giggle. _No way! Old Man wouldn't do this to me would he? Or is this revenge for all those pranks I played on him...? _He sighed as he looked over at the Hokage Tower and back. _Well, best to find out if he is or isn't the person that's supposed to train me. Guess I better get his attention..._A feral grin lit his face, his prankster side showing up. He didn't have anything against perverts, but he had enough experience with them to know their weakness.

Perverts (guy ones that is) loved women with little to no clothing on. Naruto never understood why they did, but they did. He never got a good glimpse of a naked woman and whenever he did, it was only from mannequins show casing lingerie. The girls at the bath houses seemed to always know whenever he was there-_It was like they had a sixth sense for it_, he added as he thought back to when he was younger.

_Oh well, _he thought as he jumped down from the branch, _Time to ruin the perv's day..._

Training Ground Seven

Sasuke resisted from sighing as he waited for a certain one-eyed ninja to show up. It had already been pass two hours and the man still wasn't there.

He could feel a small twitch forming as the man slowly walked and waved a greeting to him.

"Oh? You're not going to greet me back? Hmm, and I thought that you were finally starting to be more sociable, Sasuke."

The raven haired boy glared at the jonin before responding, "Only when you're on time Kakashi."

The man sighed and eye smiled, "Well you see, as I was walking here, I saw a poor old man and I decided to give him some money, but then it turned out that he was really a rich daimyo undercover. He then invited me for breakfast and since he was a noble, I couldn't refuse him. As we were walking, we were ambushed by-"

"That's a load of bull and you know it Kakashi," Sasuke cut in irritably. He had been listening and quiet to the man's excuse but he had enough. He was there to train for the Chuunin Exams. He needed to get stronger-not just for revenge, but because he intended to serve the dobe once he's Hokage. Of course he'd never tell the blonde that. Sasuke had decided after thinking it through and analyzing his situation. He still had no idea of what he'd do, but he knew that he'd stay in Konoha. Not for the civilians, but for his new family/team. However, the boy also knew that he had to get stronger. If not, Itachi would kill them and that...that just couldn't happen. He needed to be stronger and the Chuunin Exams were only a step in that direction.

The jonin chuckled before continuing, "All right, let's get started shall we? Keep in mind I won't be going easy on you."

"I know already! Let's get started, Kakashi."

"Maa, maa, you shouldn't be so impatient Sasuke," Kakashi told the boy in a chiding tone. Sasuke felt his eye twitch. The man was strong but infuriating. He felt his curse mark pulse and felt the strange sensation of something trying to invade his body. Bringing a hand to where the mark was, he grimaced and glared once more at the older man. He refused to take Orochimaru's power and Kakashi was the only person in Konoha who had the Sharingan.

"Let's get started with a warm up shall we? I have a technique that could be useful but I need to make sure that you can handle it first." The boy raised an eyebrow at the mention of a potential technique and nodded. He walked over and looked at the man as he prepared to fight.

"I think we'll just stick with taijutsu right now. We'll need to work on stamina and accuracy before we move on."

Sasuke nodded as he activated his Sharingan. He may not be able to do some of the things Kakashi will, but it might be helpful latter on. Plus, he had a feeling that Kakashi would be moving and hitting a lot faster and harder than usual.

He would find out that the man really did mean it when he said he wouldn't go easy on him.

Konoha Residential Area

Sakura paused and lifted her hand before dropping it. She looked at the door of Yuhi Kurenai's apartment and gathered her courage. _Come on! I can do this! Everyone else is already training but me!_

The green eyed girl had originally planned on asking her yesterday, but chickened out at the last moment. She had asked Hinata where to find Team Eight's sensei and mentally thanked Asami for being close friends with the Hyuuga. It was slightly awkward at first but it wasn't as bad as Sakura had thought it would've gone. Hinata had been polite and gentle, not cold and arrogant like the rest of her clan.

Sakura took a deep breath and tried lifting her hand to knock but for some reason, she just couldn't. _Maybe it's because I don't really want to learn more genjutsus-I want to learn more about iryo ninjutsu. _

Genjutsu would be helpful for the girl, but she felt that it was something she'd rather use as a small tool. Sakura just couldn't see herself as a genjutsu mistress. She was smart and had almost perfect chakra control, but she wasn't sure if she was really made for staying in the back of fights and manipulating the enemy with carefully placed illusions.

Remembering back to when she first imitated the chakra enhanced strength, she remembered feeling the pride and joy as she knew that she could finally be of use. Her hand shaped itself into a fist as she thought about the adrenaline that pumped through her body as she watched a large crater form. It was a satisfying feeling to know that with training, she could use that strength against her opponents and still be able to heal her allies. Shinobi were feared because they could destroy, but instead of only destruction, she could still heal.

Sakura sighed as she looked once more at the door. She could feel the crossroads that people talked about so much as she contemplated what to do. _To stay or to go? Which should I choose?_

"Oh?! Aren't you one of Kakashi's students? Haruno Sakura right?" Sakura jumped a bit at the voice. It was the genjutsu mistress walking with a bouquet of flowers in one arm. _Oh! No wonder the door didn't just open! She wasn't even here! _She felt a small blush of embarrassment creep up on her face as she nodded.

Kurenai smiled, "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I...I was just wondering how you grew such beautiful flowers. I was thinking about trying to grow some flowers in my room and I saw yours on the balcony..."

"I see, thank you," the red eyed woman replied and smiled, "Well I suppose the trick to growing them is to nurture them and watch over them like children, Sakura-chan."

"Oh! I see, thank you Kurenai-san!"

"Of course, Sakura-chan," she nodded to her before Sakura left. As the pinkette walked out of the building, she looked once more at her hands. _Yes, _she decided, _these hands will be used for both strength and healing. _The young genin stopped in shock when the wooden walls of a restaurant exploded in her face. _What the...? _Looking over, she almost felt her heart stop. On the opposite wall was Naruto who was covered in rubble.

"N-Naruto?!" She ran over to her teammate who was rubbing the back of his neck before he grinned and winced as he tried standing up. "What happened?! Shouldn't you be training with whatever-his-name-was?!"

The blonde only chuckled and Sakura was worried that he had a concussion before remembering that this was Naruto. She sighed, he could easily survive a large fall and heal whatever injuries he had, and she was sure that the Kyuubi would know that concessions were bad.

"Oh? It seems you really are tough like what Jiraiya said, brat." Sakura looked over and her mouth fell slightly open. A woman with blonde pigtails stepped out from where the hole was. She wore a short, green kimono and had only a necklace with three green prisms on as accessories. On the woman's forehead was a blue diamond and of course, the most obvious feature that Sakura noticed with something akin to awe-were large breasts.

_How is that even possible?!_

The woman's golden eyes looked at Sakura and raised a blonde eyebrow. "Hmm, pink hair with light green eyes, you must be Haruno Sakura?" Sakura nodded in reply, too shocked to reply. "Well it seems that the blond brat there's made a bet with me. He's told me that you have almost perfect chakra control and you're interested in iryo ninjutsu, am I correct?"

Another nod, "The Chuunin finals are in twenty-nine days and in those twenty-nine days, you're going to have to try and impress me. I'll be training you and let me tell you, I won't hold back. If you don't impress me, I get to leave Konoha and no one bothers me again. If you do impress me," she paused and looked back at Naruto who was standing up and grinned his usual thousand watt grin, "...I'll stay and take you as an apprentice."

Sakura looked at Naruto and couldn't help but let a grin slip out on her lips. "Naruto...Thank you..."

"Maa, maa Sakura-chan, I just wanted to help you out on your goal since you've been supporting me ya know?" He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "It's the least I can do for you as your future Hokage!"

"I'll do it then! Naruto's gone through all this trouble to help me, I won't disappoint him!"

"Hmph! Suit yourself then! Follow me; I know where we can go to train. You too Shizune!"

"H-hai!" a black haired woman answered as she rushed after the blonde who was currently walking away. A small pig wearing a vest also hurried along and Sakura quickly snapped out of it when the woman turned around with impatience and basically ordered the girl to hurry.

The strawberry haired girl nodded quickly and grinned. It was almost like a dream come true. She really was going to be training with Senju Tsunade, the Slug Princess and one of the Legendary Sannin! She was going to give it everything she had, this was a bet she couldn't afford to lose!

Although she did briefly wonder why her role model was here and why Naruto had flown through a wall..._I'll ask later_, she decided as she rushed forward to the two women and pig in front of her.

Two Days Earlier

"You want me to do what?!"

Sarutobi tilted his Hokage hat to cover his face a bit more. He had been thinking about this for a long time and he decided that it needed to happen. With the new information he just received, this had to happen. He was getting too old for his beloved job as Hokage and as much as he'd love to nominate Naruto as Hokage, the boy was too young and inexperienced for the job. He reviewed his shinobi and had three choices: Nara Shikaku, his Jonin Commander, Hatake Kakashi, one of his strongest jonins, and Maito Gai, another one of his strongest (and weirder) jonins.

Shikaku was an obvious choice, the man was a genius. However, he was also just as lazy as the rest of his clan. _He'd refuse the position right away knowing him, _Sarutobi thought wearily.

Kakashi was a good choice. The man was laid back and a fellow pervert, but he could also be very serious if needed and he could always be counted on to be calm. However, his tardiness would cause issues along with his public reading of porn. _That would cause too much trouble with a possible war and invasion right now._

He shuddered at the thought of having Maito Gai as Hokage. Sure the man was strong and serious when the situation called for it, but he would probably destroy Konoha's relations within three hours.

That led to him thinking about his own students. Orochimaru would've been a perfect choice if he hadn't descended into madness and corruption. Jiraiya had been offered the position many times but the Sannin was too damn stubborn and kept refusing each time. His reason being that he would be unable to collect any more information that would be useful for Konoha. Unfortunately, Sarutobi knew that the Toad Sage was correct. The information he got was useful and led to many assassinations, invasions, and getting dirty secrets about other nations. That led to one person left, Tsunade. However, she had refused to step back inside Konoha, cursing it for killing her late brother and fiancé during the Third Shinobi War. Yet, she was the great-grand-daughter of the Shodaime and the great-grand-niece of the Nidaime. He knew she had some experience from visiting them both. Sarutobi knew he needed to get the busty blonde back in Konoha. She would be the perfect Hokage-the Hokage that could help during a time of war and chaos. He looked back at his student who was still listing reasons why he needed to live.

Sarutobi sighed; he really did feel older than his age. "Jiraiya, she must come back to Konoha. With the information you've brought me, her skills will be needed and she's the only one that I know will easily stand up against the Council."

Jiraiya settled down and looked out at the view of Konoha. "And how do you suppose I convince her to come back? She really hates this place you know?" He finished quietly.

"Naruto." The white haired man stared in shock, obviously not expecting that answer. "Naruto won't be able to leave since the Chuunin Exams will be starting soon and he can't leave, but I know that if Tsunade sees him or at least hears of him, she'll get interested. He has the same dream of being Hokage just like Dan and Nowaki-kun. If she still refuses, bait her with a bet so that she'll meet Naruto at least."

"Well that sounds great and all, Old Man, but I think you're forgetting something," Jiraiya said as he scratched his chin and paused dramatically, "I'm teaching the brat right now. I can't leave him in the middle of training and I'd probably get pranked to oblivion if I did."

"Then use a Kage Bunshin, Jiraiya. Summon the frogs to help train if you need to."

A large sigh was met as the Toad Sage slumped in defeat and nodded. "Alright, but you'll owe me for this. I'll be losing precious time with the brat..." Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and nodded, signaling for him to continue. "After the Chuunin Exams are over, I want to take him with me on a training trip for...hmm let's say two or three years."

A pregnant silence filled the room as Sarutobi considered it. There was information about a group of rogue nin and he had a bad feeling about them. The trip would help improve Naruto's strength and would help him go under cover for a bit. Naruto was important for Konoha's future, his death would destroy everything. Sarutobi knew that the only reason the Last Uchiha was staying in Konoha without a large thirst for revenge was because of the blond. His death would unleash the boy's hatred and revenge. He could even descend into madness like Orochimaru when he lost his parents.

Asami had based her life's goal around him and he was unsure of how the girl would react of his death. She would most likely close in on herself, becoming an empty husk most likely. He knew the red head would continue on living, but she would always carry some sort of guilt, despair, and heart breaking sorrow. She could even turn out like most of his old, battle-hardened shinobi who wanted nothing more than death.

Haruno Sakura had changed for the better, no longer chasing after Sasuke. She would crash and descend into something eerily like Tsunade. She wasn't a gambler, but there was always the possibility of her becoming a drinker like the Sannin. The girl would waste away once the bright, guiding light disappeared.

_Then again, their deaths would all impact each other negatively. _The four were like pillars for Konoha. He felt goosebumps as he thought of what would happen to Naruto should any of the three die. Although the boy was usually cheerful and happy, he was creative and scary smart too. The pranks he did as a child would be nothing compared to what Naruto could and would do. Naruto would never be the same if they died.

With those thoughts, Sarutobi knew that Jiraiya was suggesting a great idea. Sure he was a pervert and could be lazier than a Nara, but he would always do his best to protect what was dear to him. Naruto was the last link to Minato, Jiraiya's star student and he knew that once more, it was probably the blond that still had Jiraiya returning back to Konoha.

"Alright then Jiraiya, you may take the boy on a training trip with you." Said man grinned and agreed, promising that he'd bring the Slug Sannin by the morning. Sarutobi only nodded before looking out once more at the view of Konoha. He remembered when he thought back about two years ago. The train of thought that ran threw his head, the possible future that could happen; he needed Konoha to be prepared should it ever happen. He brought out his pipe and lit it with a small katon jutsu. A sigh left his lips as he looked at the Hokage Monument and silently, like always, he asked his predecessors and successor if what he was doing was good for Konoha.

The next morning, true to his word, Jiraiya had returned with Tsunade, Shizune, and TonTon. The white haired Sannin grinned in victory the entire time they talked in the Hokage's office. Once the women and pig left, Sarutobi asked how he was able to convince the woman to come to a "place worse than hell" as she called it.

"I told her about Naruto like you suggested and I made a bet with her. I told her that if she won against Naruto in gambling, I'd leave her alone. I even told her about how he had enough money to repay all her debts and there'd still be enough for her to live in luxury for the rest of her life."

Sarutobi's eyes widened, "Hold on Jiraiya, you do know that Naruto has no idea of how to gamble right?! He'd lose everything!"

Jiraiya grinned, "Yeah, but I know that the kid's got lady luck's blessing times a thousand. Plus, even if he lost, I'd pay it for him. I'd rather die and get eternally blundered by Kushina and Minato than use Naruto's inheritance for a bet."

In three hours, Naruto would meet Tsunade with Jiraiya and beat her in gambling even though he had never played it before. Of course he'd make a bet with the blonde and go through a wall after arguing with her, but it worked out in the end and Jiraiya only suffered a few bruises as a result.

_All in all, it went pretty well_, Sarutobi thought optimistically with a small smile. Sure he had stacks of paperwork left, but at least he knew that Konoha had a perfect candidate for Godaime now. He could finally rest his old bones, watch the young grow and marry, and partake in one last mission that would take him to where his dear wife, eldest son, and daughter-in-law were.

_After all, a shinobi is remembered for how he or she died, not how they lived._

**Well, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. How do you feel now that the story's now getting closer and closer to Shippuden?**

Okay, so about Hotaru...I honestly wasn't expecting on bringing him back. It had originally been Sarutobi but it just wasn't working for me so I changed it to him. As for the rest of Team Seven's training, I'll leave it up to your imaginations. The original team is basically the same and Asami will only be working on her new ability.

The next chapter will be starting with the battles...yay!  


**Not really sure what to do about the Sound Four. I don't really want to write about them since I find them annoying but I'll incorporate them in...somehow. Oh, and Naruto and Sasuke's fight at the Valley of the End...*smirk* that will be surprising.**

Hope you'll continue reading! See ya next time!


	13. The Middle-Chuunin Finals! Part 1

**Caution! Be prepared for battle scenes!...LONG battle scenes that may or may not suck accompanied with my sleep-deprived ranting at the end...**

**Sorry, but I'd like to thank everyone for favoriting! Thank you very much for everyone who is reading and following my story! I'll do my best with this story!**

**Enjoy!**

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Part I

Arena Benches

Asami looked around at the crowd, searching for familiar faces. She felt anxious when she found her family and Hotaru. The red haired man waved at her cheerfully and she grinned before nodding back. She tried getting her family's attention, but was interrupted by Naruto. The blonde was out of breath, obviously late. She smiled and laughed at her friend's appearance. His hair was still gravity defying, but it was lopped on one side and his face was unwashed with traces of drool at the corners of his mouth.

"Is Kakashi-sensei rubbing off on you Naruto?"

He rolled his eyes, but smiled good-naturedly. "As if, I bet he and Sasuke-teme still aren't here."

A sigh met that statement and they both looked over at Ino who was sitting nearby. "I hate to say it, Naruto, but you're right! Sasuke-kun's not here yet!" The blond pouted as she crossed her arms. Sakura smiled weakly at her old friend. Their friendship was still gone and missing, but at least they were on civil terms now.

"Well, he does have Kakashi-sensei training him so they're bound to be late," Sakura added.

Asami smiled as she attempted to make her friend somewhat more presentable. Fortunately, he was still tired and didn't make a large fuss. She took out her handkerchief and using a small water ninjutsu to dampen it. Gently she wiped his face as he yawned.

"Why were you late, Naruto?"

He grinned sleepily at her question. "I was too excited and couldn't fall asleep."

Sakura couldn't help but smile, "That sounds just like you, Naruto."

His grin grew larger as he slowly started becoming more alert. His hand came up to rub the back of his head and he shrugged, "Well, what can I say? I couldn't wait for today! I'm going to show everyone how I beat Neji-teme!"

"Hmm, have you seen Hinata-chan in the hospital yet?" Asami asked as she stared at his unruly hair before calling it a lost cause.

A long silence met her question and all three girls facepalmed. As strange as it was, Ino had actually known Hinata since she was the only other clan heiress her age. Just about everyone knew about the shy girl's crush on the boy except for the boy himself.

"So you mean you trained to fight Neji and you totally forgot why you were fighting him in the first place?!" Ino exclaimed in disbelief.

The blond put his hands up as if he was surrendering. "I didn't forget _why_ I was fighting and I did visit her!" Another few seconds of silence passed and he sighed, "Fine, I just gave her a get well card and some flowers-"

"Which kind?!" The girls' asked excitedly. He raised an eyebrow but answered them anyway.

"I bought her some lilies and lilacs...I thought they smelled nice so I bought some for her. I think they kinda fit her too actually," he added thoughtfully.

"What kind of lilies?! What kind?!" Ino practically shouted in excitement with stars in her cornflower eyes.

He shrunk back, confused. "What do you mean what kind? I don't know the names but the lilies looked kinda looked like there was only one petal and the one thingy inside the flower was yellow. They were white," he added as he tried to remember. "The lilacs were purple-" he was cut off as Ino squealed loudly.

"Aww! That's so cute! I never knew you knew about the flower language Naruto! I wish Sasuke-kun would give me those flowers!"

Meanwhile, Naruto was still confused. _What language? The flowers mean something? _He looked over at Asami for answers, but stared at her instead. She was looking at him, but he could see she was zoning out. Her violet eyes were shining and she had a triumph grin on. His blue eyes caught his other female teammate with a soft smile and her hands clasped together on her chest. _What the...? Did I do something? Why are they all spacing out?_

"Just leave them Naruto. They're too troublesome to be messed with right now." The blond perked up at hearing a familiar voice.

"Shikamaru! Chouji!" The lazy Nara was walking with Chouji who carried a bag of chips in one hand. Both of the boys waved in greeting. "Do you guys know why they're like this?"

The Akimichi shrugged and the Nara sighed, "I've seen Ino do that whenever she's thinking about Sasuke doing something romantic for her."

"Eh? But Asami-chan's not really like Ino or Sakura-chan, she doesn't have a crush on anyone!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "And how do you know that? Girls don't really like talking about things like that with boys." He sighed, "Well, unless they're like Ino and like to talk non-stop...It's too troublesome to explain it Naruto."

"Just wait a bit and they should return back to normal, Naruto," Chouji added as he ate his bag of chips. The blond sighed and decided to wait. He looked out and noticed that his opponent was also there. The Hyuuga sneered at him and Naruto felt his blood boil but he held in his anger. Naruto was going to wait until they were in the arena, then he was going to make the older boy eat his words and apologize to Hinata!

He looked back to Asami and wondered if she did actually have a crush. It was possible that although she didn't fawn over any boys, that she had someone she liked. _But who would it be? _He tried narrowing down results, but she didn't really look like how Ino or Sakura would when Sasuke was around or did something cool. She didn't squeal or fix her hair around any guys. She didn't talk non-stop about a guy or ask guys out either. However, he would have to think about it later, it was time to fight.

Arena-Naruto vs. Neji!

Naruto walked out and couldn't but glare at the white eyed boy in front of him. Today was the Chuunin Finals and the day he had been training for this day with Ero-sennin. The boy in front of him had an arrogant smirk on, obviously believing that the fight was going to be easy. _Let's see if he'll still be smirking once I win!_

"You look like you have something to say," Neji asked.

Naruto fisted his hand as he thought about Hinata's fight with Neji. He lifted it up as he replied with confidence, "You're definitely going down! I won't let Hinata's battle be in vain!"

Genma spoke out, deciding to interrupt the two, "Alright, now for the first fight! Begin!" The jonin jumped up and away from the arena as Neji leaned down, into the Gentle Fist starting position.

He still had an infuriating smirk on as he told Naruto, "Then it will be worthwhile to watch you fail as you fight against me."

"You can try all you want, but I won't be defeated easily-even if you are a prodigy!" Naruto put his hands together into the familiar ram seal.

He knew that close ranged attacks were pointless. He had done his research about the clans and knew just about everything from library records. The Hyuuga clan was famous for their dojutsu, the Byakugan, which let them see the chakra systems, their surroundings, and even through walls. They had their own fighting style, the Gentle Fist, which dealt with sealing specific points in the chakra system, also called tenketsu. He had to be careful not to be hit directly in any vital organs or be slow enough to actually get all 361 points sealed, that would be death.

Naruto waited for Neji to make the first move as six kage bunshins popped into existence. As much as he wanted to rush and punch the arrogant teme in the face, it was stupid...but very tempting. His bunshins all took out a kunai and grinned. Naruto was going to stick to the usual plan, distract the opponent while he made seals and fired off jutsus. Of course he'd spice things up with trading positions with bunshins and even add in some traps. _Hmm, which reminds me, I'm going to need to set some up. There's only one tree and I doubt that Neji-teme would go there unless I was there...Guess I could use the ground too. Last time I checked, I had about 300 explosive tags with me and enough for another 200...Alright, let's get started shall we?_

"Are you too scared to be fighting against me, Uzumaki?"

"As if! I'm just wondering how your face will look like once I wipe that smirk off it!"

"That will not happen. It is my destiny to defeat you. You are destined to lose against me."

Naruto fought against rolling his eyes, "Fine, you know what, I was giving you time to make a move, but I guess since you're too busy spouting nonsense, I'll make the first move!" Instantly, his bunshins rushed forward with their kunai. He had worked on coordinating attacks and creating openings with Jiraiya and he planned on making full use of them.

He jumped up onto the tree and took out his seals as the clones wildly threw their kunai. This was met by some laughter from the crowd, but Naruto ignored it. He had a reason why but few would notice unless they looked very close. On each kunai was an inscription of his version of Hiraishin, Muteki no Arashi (Invincible Storm). He had made it so that instead of a yellow flash like the Hiraishin, there would be a strange blur. If you were in the direct path of the blur, you would find that there would be cuts over your body. That was one of the main differences. Although it was still a space-time jutsu, the seal allowed for those with wind element to use it to their advantage. It used more chakra, but that didn't really matter for Naruto who had more chakra than an elite jonin. The chakra shaped the air around the person into thin blades that whipped around fast enough to create the blur. It was the perfect combination of supportive, offensive, and in extreme situations, even defensive. Although he had to be careful if he was only using it for fast travel. He could still potentially hurt someone if he wasn't careful.

He saw Neji furrow his eyebrows and Naruto couldn't stop the grin that formed on his face. "I sure suck at throwing don't I?"

"You are up to something, Uzumaki, however, it will not be enough to defeat me! It is not your destiny!" The Hyuuga prodigy shot towards him in the tree, but Naruto only grinned more as he waited patiently. As Neji struck out at Naruto, he was met with a cloud of smoke and he jumped back as he saw chakra blades. He looked down and scowled, he still had some cuts despite his attempts of dodging.

"Nice one, but you're a bit too slow!" Naruto shouted as he traded places with a quickly made bunshin and used the Muteki no Arashi. It was tough, but he had practiced the combination for hours and hours.

The young prodigy immediately knew there was something wrong when he heard the hissing of explosive notes beneath him. Clouds of dirt filled the air momentarily as a series of loud booms rang out. Naruto felt pride grow in his chest as he saw the work of his clones. It was tough, but they had managed to hide a majority of his explosives tags underground while he traded places with a Bunshin.

Once more, he flooded the field with his bunshins as he set the field to his advantage. _There's got to be a weakness in the Byakugan somewhere, I just need to find it and use it to my advantage...I wonder if he can see explosive tags and seals? It didn't say anything in the books I read..._Naruto chuckled mentally. _Man, I bet Iruka-sensei would faint on the spot if he saw me reading out of my own free will..._He shook his head, now wasn't time to be thinking off topic, he had to pay attention, Neji was still a prodigy, he couldn't be taken lightly. _Time to step it up a notch._ Naruto made four extra bunshins and ran at Neji, surrounding him and the circle of never-ending Narutos before jumping into the air.

The five quickly ran threw a rush of hand seals before unanimously shouting, "Fuuton: Shitsuyona kaze (Wind Release: Relentless Wind)!" Blades of wind shot from their positions, creating a crisscross as the blades crossed. As Naruto teleported to one of the inscribed kunai, his mouth fell slightly open as he watched Neji swirl around, repelling all attacks and dispelling his bunshins.

"What did you think you could accomplish, Uzumaki? You are a loser, it is not your destiny to win, to become Hokage!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "And why's that?"

"Because talent is decided at birth. Do you think that just because you work hard you will become Hokage, the strongest person in the village?"

"Where do you get all of this nonsense?! That's...that's," the blond paused and looked around before continuing, "That's BS!" He couldn't swear, there were young kids in the crowd and both Asami and Sakura would have his head if he swore in front of them.

"Give up! The only fate and destiny we all share is death!"

"As if that'll ever happen! Let me tell ya something, I don't give up easily, so you can give up on me giving up!" Naruto replied as he created more bunshin to replace those that had dispelled.

Somewhere, in the crowd, a self-proclaimed pervert had his mouth open in shock before it was replaced by a proud grin.

As the clones ran at Neji, he bended his knees and straightened his arms, one lower than the other. "You are within the field of my range. Jukenho: Hakke Rokujuyon Sho (Gentle Fist: 8 Trigrams 64 Palms)!" Naruto swore-mentally of course-as Neji rushed past his bunshins and straight at him.

"Hakke two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Sixty-four palms!"

Only one word described what Naruto felt as he flew back from the attack. Ouch.

"I have hit sixty-four points in your body. You can no longer stand. Accept your fate, Uzumaki." Neji sneered at the younger boy, the fight was over. A large silence fell on the arena as the crowd watched with abated breath. Naruto struggled, demanding his body to move, to stand, to fight! He couldn't stop there. He had told Kakashi-sensei that he would become a chuunin with everyone else on Team Seven. There would be no second chance, he refused to let that happen!

His arms shook as he pushed himself up and although it hurt, he ignored it as he stood up. "I...told you didn't I? I suck at...giving up!"

"Hmph, stop resisting your fate. Continuing will not change the outcome of this fight."

"Oh yeah? Well, think again! I won't let you leave this arena without getting you to take back what you said! I don't care if you call me a loser, a deadlast, or an idiot, but I won't let you insult Hinata-chan! I don't know what happened between you guys, but I know this-I won't forgive you for calling my precious friends those names!"

Neji paused before smirking, "Alright then, let me tell you the Hyuuga's destiny of hatred!"

*Hello there! It's me-the author! Please excuse me for doing this, but I'm sure that you-the reader-know the story already, so I will skip this. However, if you really don't know what Neji's talking about or you've somehow forgotten it (unlikely but possible I guess), I will quickly explain it (or at least attempt to do it quicker than Neji would).

Once upon a time, when Hinata and Neji were very young, they met for the first time. Neji was from the Branch family of the Hyuuga and was branded the Caged Bird Seal. The seal allowed for the members of the Main family to hurt them with a simple hand seal and sealed the Byakugan when the Branch member dies (it disappears once the person is dead). The Branch family was branded because they were supposed to serve the Main family.

During this time, Konoha and Kumo got along until Kumo attempted to steal the Byakugan by kidnapping Hinata. The shinobi from Kumo was killed personally by Hiashi and when Kumo heard about this, they demanded his head. Of course that was a problem as he was the head of the clan. This led his twin brother, Hizashi (Neji's father), to give his life instead. This is where Neji gets things wrong. He believes that his father was ordered to give his life instead. This led to him hating the Main family very much which led to him greatly loathing Hinata and insulting her whenever he could.

The truth of the situation is that his father _chose_ to give his life away. Hizashi decided that it was something hecould _choose _and that he would be free. He left Neji a scroll containing his thoughts and left it to Hiashi to deliver it. The end.

And that was the Hyuuga Incident and an overview of why Neji hates the Main branch. Sorry for this, now then-on with the story!*

"You could never understand what it's like to be burdened by a symbol you could never get rid of!"

Naruto's eyes darkened. He could understand. Being called a monster, being ignored, being hated, never escaping from the darkness...He could understand all of that. The pain, the loneliness, the despair, and the longing. It was almost ironic, the deadlast could understand _exactly_ what the prodigy had felt. However, he had something that the prodigy didn't have-the ability to forgive.

The blond chuckled weakly, "Actually, I can understand...But what about it? Hinata's been through the same thing. I'm not stupid, I can see the way that other Hyuugas treat her. She tries her best to be acknowledged, and yet you all ignore her. She didn't give up, even when she was coughing up blood, when you two fought. And yet...you called her a loser, a name she doesn't deserve. From what I got from your story, isn't the Branch family supposed to protect the Main family? I think _you're _the one who's resisting your fate, your destiny!"

"...Let me ask you something before I defeat you then, why do you resist your fate?"

"Heh, because I refuse to give up and accept that I can't do something for those who've helped me!" This would be his final attack for this battle and Naruto was determined to win.

As the field flooded with his bunshin, he had some blindly charge at the Hyuuga with explosive tags. For the blocked chakra points, his control still sucked and he didn't know where any of his tenketsu were so he flared his chakra, sending extra chakra through his chakra system. He winced as the process finished, it had hurt a lot more than he would've thought, but he had a giant fox that healed him so it should be alright...Hopefully...

He took out his kunai and closed his eyes, sensing for the Muteki no Arashi kunai. His blue eyes opened and he took a deep breath. He would need to have perfect timing in order to evade Neji's attacks. He waited as his bunshin created the perfect opening. Believe it or not, he had been paying attention to Neji's attacks. He noticed how he would act in a given situation and although he had variations, it was basically the same. Divert the attack and counter attack. Neji had about twenty-five variations, but Naruto needed three of the them for the perfect attack. Naruto signaled six clones to join him. He felt the corners of his mouth turn up as he saw it-the perfect variation. Naruto released his breath and took one step forward. It had taken him only six seconds as he teleported from kunai to kunai, landing a hit every time he could possible.

As Neji fell, his body was full of cuts. Naruto stopped in front of the boy, panting hard and sweating from using Muteki no Arashi in such a short span of time. Neji looked up even though his vision was fading fast.

There, in front of him, was the deadlast who spent time with Hinata...The person he was supposed to be protecting. _Perhaps he is correct...Maybe I am just running away from everything..._"Come to gloat?" he asked quietly.

"Hmm, as much as I'd love to, I won't...Well maybe just a little. I won't give up, not now, now ever. Even if it takes me my entire life to become Hokage, that hat will be mine." He smiled at Neji, but it wasn't mocking or pitying, it was determined. "I promise, Neji," he pointed his chest and grinned determinedly, "Once I become Hokage, I'll get rid of the Caged Bird Seal. So, stop whining about destiny, you're not a loser like me. I don't complain, so that means you can't either."

Neji felt he must've gone mad with the last image he saw before he blacked out. He saw the stubborn blond standing with a fist over his chest and a grin on his face. The sun had decided to plant itself right behind the blond's head, giving him an almost ethereal appearance. The blue sky had decided to follow the sun's example and highlight the blond's blue eyes. He didn't like the feeling he felt. It was something he had felt a long time ago when his father was still alive-hope.

It seemed that Neji wasn't the only one who had seen the image. A silence filled the air before Genma smiled and announced the winner. "The winner is Uzumaki Naruto!" A stunned silence fell before clapping and cheering erupted. The blond looked up with wide eyes before grinning his famous one thousand watt, only this time it was one full of genuine happiness and confidence. He rubbed the back of his head and looked over at his peers. Naruto felt the sting of tears at his eyes. They were all happy, proud, and cheering for _him_-the deadlast of the class!

Asami was jumping and whooping in delight. Sakura was wiping away tears of joy as she smiled proudly at him. Hinata who had been coughing earlier but had been healed by Sakura, was smiling and crying. Ino had yelled out and arm pumped at his victory.

He looked at his old group of friends he had ditched class with. Shikamaru noticed him looking and nodded as he mumbled good-naturedly, "Troublesome blond". Chouji had stopped eating from his bags of chips and instead, looked as if he was struck by inspiration. Kiba and Akamaru had whooped and generally caused a lot of noise while slapping Shino on the back. The shade wearing boy showed no emotion, yet Naruto could see the small indicators of a smile.

Naruto's grin slipped for a moment when he realized that neither Sasuke nor Kakashi was there. He quickly plastered it back on, but it still hurt that his fellow male teammate and brother wasn't there to see his achievement and that the man Naruto really wanted praise and acknowledgement from didn't see how he had used his techniques.

"Oi! How long do you plan to stand there looking like the idiot you are?"

Naruto swiveled around fast at the familiar voice. "Sasuke?!"

The raven haired boy rolled his eyes and smirked, "Took you long enough to notice." Sasuke stood in a door way with Kakashi who waved an informal salute.

As much as it hurt his pride to admit it later, Naruto grinned in relief at his teammate and sensei.

"Heh, did it take that long to do your hair, teme?" Naruto teased as he jumped up to where his teammates were. Sasuke scowled but approached the group too. Sakura immediately rushed over to Naruto as her hands glowed green. He lifted a hand to stop her but he was silenced by her glare. "Don't worry, Naruto. Shikamaru's match is next and his mom's threatened him to at least try."

The boy groaned at the mention of his mother. "This is too troublesome, I don't want to fight and yet I have to..."

Naruto made a sound of amusement, "Yeah, well sorry but since I went, you gotta go too!" He stood up and pushed the lazy boy into the arena. "Good luck Shika!"

The Nara glared up at the blond from the ground and looked at his opponent. He sighed and looked up at the clouds. _Why is it always the blonds that are troublesome?"_

"Troublesome blonds..." He mumbled as he sat up.

Unfortunately, the blonde girl in front of him heard him as she scowled. "Do you have a problem with us blonds?"

Shikamaru looked over and cursed his luck. He looked back up at the sky and at the sun's position. His mind quickly generated hundreds of plans that were also discarded until he decided on three. He slowly stood up, those three would have to do. He'd still need to have enough chakra for the possible invasion, but they'd do. He looked once more at the blond who had gotten him into this situation in the first place before he sighed.

"Not really. But I guess I can't lose to a girl." _Man, why do I always fight against women? Whether it's Mom, Ino, or another kunoichi, it's always a girl..._

To be continued...

**...I did it...I actually did it! Hehe, an entire chapter with fighting...*sigh* Oh gosh, I really don't think I'm good at them, but there are soo many fighting scenes! That means that this will actually take about four parts/chapters since I apparently write very, VERY long battle scenes. **

**As for the history lesson *looks away* yeah, I'll admit-I was lazy and didn't want to write Neji's even **_**longer**_** dialogue. Sorry! For this chapter, I had to re-read the manga since the last time I watched this was years ago! **

**What did you think of Naruto? Was he too out of character? I kind of added the ethereal image just because I haven't done such a sappy, cliché thing in a long time and I enjoy making Naruto so pretty XD Haha, please don't hurt me...As for his new jutsus, I just used Google Translate and every word I thought would relate to the jutsu. I find it almost funny how Arashi is part of Naruto's new jutsu. If you don't know, many people thought Minato's original name was Kazama Arashi. I don't know why I find it funny, but I guess it's because I have a strange sense of humor.**

**Sorry if you wanted to see more characters other than Naruto and Neji, but this was **_**their**_** battle and I wanted to show how different my Naruto is from canon. As for Neji...I feel that he's OOC, but then again I'm writing this at 3 in the morning since I just spent an entire day writing this chapter...**

**As for the flower symbols, there's quite a few meanings for the calla lily and the lilac. The calla lily stands for magnificent beauty and is also used for weddings too (What? Foreshadowing?! **_**Moi?!**_** *gasp!* Never!) The purple lilac means "first emotions of love" which actually doesn't symbolize much right now, but…well, you never know!**

**Well I can and want to rant on more, but I'll restrain myself and let anyone who's actually reading this go on to either read the next chapter or do something else.**

**Hope you enjoyed this LONG chapter and A/N! **

**See ya in the next chapter where I totally skip one of my favorite couple's battle and move to my OC's instead!**

***sigh*...I really need to sleep...**


	14. The Middle-Chuunin Finals! Part 2

"Speaking" _Thoughts __**Flashback**_**Summon/Demon talking**

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I only own my OC and the plot twists I'm creating.

Arena Benches

Asami couldn't help but smile as she watched Shikamaru fight against Temari. Sure he didn't really do anything, or at least that's what it seemed like. She knew that Naras were known for their brains. Shika was using some strategy, she just wasn't quite sure what it was.

"Ne, Naruto, what do you think Shika's doing?" she asked, looking over at her blond friend.

He hummed and scanned his blue eyes around. He nodded towards the sky as he spoke, "Look at the sun's position, it's getting close to noon."

"Why would he need it to be noon?" Kiba asked, crossing his arms and adopting a thinking position.

Chouji stopped snacking and answered with a smile, "It's because of his jutsus. The Nara are known for their use of shadow jutsus."

Naruto nodded and yawned.

"Shouldn't you be paying attention, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

He grinned slyly and folded his arms behind his head, "Nah, it'll be okay. I know what he's trying do."

Asami raised an eyebrow. _What's he doing? Is he going to wait for the sun's position to change?_

Naruto shrugged but had a mischievious smile on. _Maybe, maybe not..._

Sakura perked up when she noticed her teammates' mental conversation. _Is Shikamaru waiting for the sun to create a shadow?_

Asami and Naruto gaped at Sakura before looking at each other. Sakura scowled. _What? I can't join in?_

They shook their head furiously. _T-that's not it, Sakura-chan! _Naruto explained. _It's just usually me and Asami-chan!_

The red haired girl nodded along. _We were just surprised!_

Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes. _Geez, you guys are acting like a couple denying an affair._

"W-what the?!" they sputtered out with wide eyes.

Sasuke looked away and made a sound of amusement. _Baka, close your mouths. I've been paying attention to what you do too._

"What are you guys doing?" Ino asked curiously.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Hehe, it's nothing really. We just kinda...communicate without talking," he added the last part quietly.

"Eh?!" Ino exclaimed before looking at Chouji, "Hey why can't we do that?! We've been together longer than they have!"

The poor Akimichi put his hands up, trying to calm down his teammate. "M-maa, maybe it's because we haven't tried it?" he replied carefully.

Ino looked thoughtful before she quickly tried signaling to the clueless boy.

"W-what is it, Ino-chan?" Chouji asked with a sweatdrop.

The blonde girl huffed and crossed her arms. "I was trying to talk to you! Didn't you understand?!"

Chouji shook his head wildly. "L-let's focus on Shikamaru's fight, Ino-chan!" the boy pointed at their teammate, changing the topic.

Naruto decided to intervene before Ino did anything drastic. "You could try observing someone and try to guess what kind of person they are."

"What do you mean by that, Naruto?" Kiba asked.

The blond stratched his cheek, unsure of how to explain it. He looked over to his teammates, _Hey you guys know how to explain this? _The three shook their head either unsure how to explain or just didn't want to. Naruto sighed, "Well for example, you work at a flower shop right?" Ino nodded, curious at what Naruto ahd to say. "So, um...well you'd see their hands right? If so then you could tell what kind of occupation they had."

Ino crossed her arms, "Yeah, I know that. My dad told me about it when I started working years ago, Naruto."

"Okay...Hmm, you're into fashion right?" Naruto asked as he quickly thought of another example.

His blonde peer struck a pose and flipped her hair, "Isn't it obvious?"

The boy could only chuckle weakly and continue; unsure of how to deal with that. "By looking at their clothes, you could see how much money they made, their job, and if you also apply your knowledge of body language, you'd be able to get a lot of information without even talking to them."

"Wow, where did you learn all of this, Naruto-kun?" Chouji asked, staring at the boy in surprise.

"Hehe, I read it in a few books and played 'Guess Who' with Asami-chan a lot."

"What's 'Guess Who'?" Hinata asked, finally speaking up.

"It's a game we made up where one of us chooses a person without telling the other who it is. The one who doesn't know has to guess who it is," Naruto explained.

"Hmm, I never knew you two played this game with each other," Sakura commented aloud.

Asami shrugged, "We used to play it a lot when we were still in the Academy. No one paid us much attention back then so we just did what we thought shinobi would need to do on missions."

"Then could you tell what kind of job that person does?" Sasuke asked, pointing to a man sitting nearby.

"Do you want me or Naruto to answer?"

"Hn, dobe."

"Oi!" Naruto exclaimed, "Che, I've got a name-ttebayo!" Sasuke ignored and waited. Naruto sighed, "Fine." After a few moments of silence he spoke up. "The guy's a shinobi."

"Why's that?" Sakura asked, now scrutinizing the man more closely.

"His posture may seem like an ordinary civilian's but it's too...strict. For the past forty seconds, he hasn't moved at all and even when he does, it's very precise and controlled, like he's trying to use as little energy as possible."

Ino put her hands on her hips, "He could just be tense to be surrounded by shinobi. Not all civilians are warmly treated by their shinobi."

The whiskered boy shook his head. "Not possible. I know that villages treat their civilians differently, but this guy isn't a civilian. Look at his hands if you can. They've got some calluses right where many shinobi who use ninjato also have calluses. Another reason would be to look at his face. His eyes darted here and there every ten seconds at several spots. Some were at other people who are probably either allies or enemies, others were for escape routes."

"So he _is _planning something," Sasuke replied lowly.

"That's why you chose him?" Sakura asked.

The raven haired boy nodded, "My seal's been sealed away by Kakashi but I can still feel the dark chakra flowing in it. That guy reminded me about Orochimaru. Remember back a month ago, he had a disguise on? He could also have something similar too."

Naruto gaped at his teammate and looked around frantically. "The world must be falling apart, Sasuke-teme's said more than ten words in a sentence," he stated in awe.

A loud smack rang out as Sakura brought her fist back. "Ouch! Hey, what was that for? I thought you couldn't hit me unless I did something stupid!"

Sakura sighed, "I wanted to hear what you really thought, baka. Quit messing around!"

He looked over at Asami for support. "A-ah, gomen, Naruto, but I'd also like to hear what you think too."

His shoulders slumped dramatically before he straightened up, his brows furrowing in deep thought. "I think he's probably here too. I can't tell where he is though, there's too many scents here." The rest of Team Seven tensed, "Don't let your guard down guys, I can't really smell his scent, but I have a bad feeling."

"No problem, I'll try and conserve my chakra just in case," Asami replied.

Sakura nodded, "I'll do the same then."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "You know this is kinda strange...It almost makes me feel like a leader!" He finished with a wide grin and the girls both smiled at the boy.

"Due to Nara Shikamaru forfeiting," Team Seven looked down in confusion, "Subaku no Temari wins," Genma finished.

_Why did he forfeit? _Sakura asked.

Naruto hummed in thought, _I don't know, but I have a feeling he has a reason why._

"Would Hakumei Asami and Haruno Sakura come down to the field?" The girls waved goodbye as they ascended down the steps.

_So, how are we going to do this? _Asami asked, looking over at her teammate.

Sakura momentarily faltered, _I...I don't know. Either one of us could lose and let the other move on, but that's not a great idea chakra wise. Especially if there might be trouble later on..._

_Hmm, true...How about a draw? _Asami suggested.

_That's a great idea! But how? Plus, we told Kakashi-sensei that we'd pass together!_

_Oh shoot, then what should we do?! I doubt they'd let us become Chuunin if it's a draw! _Asami panicked as they got closer and closer to the arena.

Sakura looked over with determination, _Don't worry, I'll figure something out._

Arena-Asami vs. Sakura

_You're sure it'll work?_ Asami asked, tilting her head to one side.

_Yeah, don't worry about! _Sakura assured, _Now, let's do this!_ The pink haired girl raised a fist in preparation and slightly bent her knees.

Asami took in a deep breath and bent her knees, she knew she was going to need to move fast. She nodded to the pink haired girl who returned the gesture. Both looked over at Genma who sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Alright, the third fight will begin!" The jonin jumped back and Asami immediately copied the action.

"Planning to take me out in one hit, Sakura-chan?" Asami couldn't help but smile at her teammate's progress. Right where she used to stand, was a large crater surrounding Sakura. Said girl's fist glowed with chakra, but disappeared as she straightened up, looking over at Asami's new location.

The pink haired genin shrugged but smiled determinedly. "Not really, but we might as well start with a bang, right?"

"Hm, all-out but no critical injuries?" Asami suggested.

A smirk was her reply and Asami felt adrenaline rush through her veins as she returned it with one of her own.

Silence lasted in the arena as both girls studied each other intensively.

Asami knew that staying too close to Sakura was no good. Her female teammate must've improved on close-ranged attacks and added a few long-range jutsus to combat against Asami on an equal ground. _Her speed has also improved too. I almost didn't see her first attack. I'll need to use as many close-ranged jutsus as possible and long-range when possible. Speed's also going to be needed too. Sakura-chan's fast, but she's not the only one who's been working on her speed! _

Sakura crossed her arms in thought as her mind started working. _Asami-chan's always had larger chakra reserves than me and even though Tsunade-sama has been helping me with my reserves, it still doesn't match up to hers. I'll need to stay on my toes; Asami-chan's always been fast at hand seals and with her ability to combine elements...This battle's going to have to last less than an hour. I don't think I can hold her up and still have enough for the plan and the trouble Naruto felt. _

When a leaf passed by from the lone tree, time seemed to move too fast.

A poof of clouds appeared as three Asami Bunshin replaced them. The real Asami backed up and as her clones set out to distract Sakura, she quickly started sealing. A large stream of fire rushed at Saukra and the girl narrowed her eyes as she punched into the earth, creating a wall between her and the fire. Sakura turned her attention to the three bunshins and struck her fists out at them.

Asami nodded thoughtfully before she continued signing. "Raiton: Rakurai!" The air around Sakura became hot and sizzled as lightning striked down from the skies. She efficiently dodged every strike due to her intense training with Tsunade.

Violet eyes widened as the pinkette pumped chakra into her legs and shot forward. Her fingers weaved seals quickly as she called out her new jutsu. "Hyoton: Hissatsu Hyōsō (Ice Release: Shattering Ice Spear)!"

Large spears of ice formed around Asami and Sakura quickly changed direction before she hit any of the spears.

Asami sighed in relief.

In all actuality, the jutsu was really an offensive technique first and a defensive technique second. She took in a deep breath before she willed the large spears protecting her to fly at Sakura._ She should be able to dodge these guys...hopefully. _

As her teammate dodged the spears Asami decided to step it up a notch. The jutsu was much harder to use as it required her to combine three elements together, but the results were worth it. Asami's cheeks puffed up as she flew through seals and as she spit out the hot liquid in her mouth, she heard various gasps.

"Yoton: Yogan no Hana (Lava Release: Lava flower)." Lava shot out and aimed at Sakura who had her mouth open before shutting it and dodged every flower but a few which only grazed her.

The fight continued on as Sakura rushed forward at Asami and the other girl weaved jutsus she knew no one else would be capable of.

Sakura panted but charged up her chakra in her right leg before lifting it and smashing it into the ground. Asami's eyes widened at the large cracks that appeared before she realized that she would be in danger. She jumped up into the air before she realized her mistake.

Sakura grinned as she met her teammate in the air and threw a flurry of punches and kicks. The auburn haired girl could only defend and block each hit before Sakura pulled her arm back and yelled out, "Okasho (Cherry Blossom Imapct)!"

The pink haired girl's fist met Asami's stomach and as shouts and cheers from the arena rang out, the receiving girl flew into the ground and small pieces of the ground flew up from the impact. Sakura landed next to crater as she charged her fist.

"Don't do it Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled out as he worried about Asami.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Baka," she muttered under her breath. She drove her fist into the crater where Asami laid and a large cloud of dirt rose up from the punch.

A silence filled the arena and Genma stepped up, "Winner-"

Sakura held her hand up and shook her head. "Hold on. Asami-chan doesn't go down this easily, I'm not the winner."

The jonin raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to protest but shut it when the ground began to rumble.

Loud cheers and gasps filled the arena as the ground beneath Sakura turned to lava. The girl's own mouth was open as she jumped onto the tree which was strangely not on fire.

"Mou, doesn't anyone have any faith in me?" Asami asked as she rose out from a swirling vortex of lava, completely unharmed from it. She sighed playfully before she smiled. "Thanks for having some faith in me, Sakura-chan."

Sakura only shrugged. "It's nothing really. I knew you could easily last longer than that." She paused and looked at the ground which was filled with churning lava. "I have to admit though, you've really improved on your chakra control haven't you? That'd be the only reason why this tree isn't on fire."

Asami grinned and blushed before nodding. "It took just about forever to get it to a level where I didn't completely obliterate everything with the lava."

Sakura smiled, "I guess that calls for a celebration after this then?"

The other girl smiled and nodded. "That's a great idea! How about in two days?"

The green eyed girl frowned. "Hmm, how about three days?" She explained, "I have a late shift at the hospital in two days."

"Wow! You're working at the hospital?! We have to celebrate that too!"

Sakura beamed proudly and nodded. "Yep! Where should we go? Definitely not ramen though. I already get enough from Ichiraku."

Asami laughed, completely ignoring the hot liquid scorching the ground. "Then how about some barbecue?"

Sakura shook her head. "Actually, I was thinking more about a sweets place."

Asami made a happy sound as she thought about sweets. "That sounds so yummy, but Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei don't like sweets!"

Sakura narrowed her brows as she thought, "Hmm then how about a picnic instead? That way we can all bring something that we like!"

Both girls smiled and agreed.

"Oi! Quit talking! I wanna see some action!" A voice cried out and many others followed. Sakura nodded at Asami as they prepared for battle once more.

"Ready?" Asami asked.

"Ready," Sakura confirmed.

Both grinned widely.

30 Minutes Later

To say that the ground was destroyed would have been the understatement of the year. It was literally obliterated beyond recognition.

The ground was no longer lava but had dark scorches from the liquid. There were large cracks randomly splattered all over and some had hot steam gushing out. The lone tree was burning and was spotting a series of holes in the middle.

Large chunks of earth were missing but were found on the walls of the arena. Areas had spots of ice instead of dirt with large spears sticking out at odd angles or were muddy fields filled with kunai.

However, in the middle of all the destruction, two kunoichi were crouched over and panting hard. They both winced as they straightened up and both met each others eyes.

"You can really hit hard, Sakura-chan," Asami commented, wincing at various bruises.

"M-maa, you've...also created quite a...large arsenal of jutsus," the girl replied out of breath.

The past half hour was spent either dodging or weaving multiple jutsus, tiring them both out more than they expected.

_...I hope nothing happens until the fights are finished. I'm way too tired out. Sakura-chan didn't go easy on me,_ Asami thought. She may have been sealing jutsu after jutsu, but her teammate didn't let her rest for more than five minutes at max. Chakra and stamina wasn't a problem, but it was hard trying to concentrate on her control _and_ on avoiding Sakura's attacks.

The red haired girl looked over at her pink haired friend. _Should we do it now?_ She asked, tilting her head.

Sakura only nodded before standing upright. She was sure that this would work! It had to!

To be continued...

**Mwahaha! So...how many of you want to strangle me for both the cliffhanger and for not updating for over a month? **

**Haha, sorry, sorry, but this chapter was impossible to write! I just couldn't get it right! Though, I have to admit, I've also been very lazy and I've been getting writer's block for this! Don't worry, I won't stop or anything, but there's so many story ideas popping into my head, demanding to be written down, that I barely have enough time to work on this!**

**Gah! There's so many excuses, I know =_=" but it's the sad truth... **

**Oh! By the way, just in case I forgot to mention, one of the few other excuses I have is that I'm taking summer classes so I'm busy AND lazy at the same time. I know, joyful right?! *Please note the sarcasm***

**Hmm, just curious but are you guys really shy? So far, I only know less than 10% of what you guys think. **

**...Am I that terrifying? **

**Is the story so bad that it doesn't need any comments or reviews? **

**Or, are you guys just lazy?**

**Huh, I don't blame you if you're any of the three or something else XD I'd probably fit more with the third question myself!**

**Oh! It seems that I am once more, finishing this around 3 in the morning...Yay! I'm sleep depriaved...again! Did you guys know that there's an OST for Road to Ninja called Thank You? I didn't until I searched it up...It's so beautiful! I love all of the Naruto OST, but apparently I love the sad, heartbreaking, breathtakingly sorrowful songs more than bright and happy songs ^_^ I'm so strange...**

**I'd like to thank all of those who have favorited, followed, and/or commented! You have no idea how happy and motivated I get! It's honestly the best feeling ever to know that what I'm typing is actually being read and liked!**

**...Alright, I'll stop my sleep depriaved ranting now! Peppermint tea can only take me oh so far...Well, I guess I'll see ya next time! It'll be finishing up this fight and hopefully, it'll also finish Sasuke's and Shino's fight too.**

**See ya!**


	15. The Middle-Chuunin Finals! Part 3

"Speaking" _Thoughts __**Flashback **_**Summon/Demon talking**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I only own my OC and the plot twists I'm creating.

Arena-Medical Bay

Sakura looked over at Asami who refused to meet her eyes and sighed.

"Gomen ne, Asami-chan, but one of us had to pass."

When her green eyes met against violet orbs, they softened at the fury and sadness in them.

"Both of us were supposed to pass! Not...just me, Sakura-chan." She added the last statement somberly.

"I know, but I don't want to be the reason why we can't both become chuunin today. I've already seen how much I hold the team back."

Asami leaned over and grabbed her friend's hands. "Not anymore Sakura-chan! You've already trained with Tsunade-sama, one of the legendary Sannin! We all know that she's going to take you as an apprentice!"

She smiled softly. "Listen Sakura-chan, without you, I think the team would've fallen apart ages ago. Don't you see, you're the glue for Team Seven! Whenever Naruto or Sasuke got hurt, they came to you for healing. When I needed someone I could easily talk to, I looked for you. When Kakashi-sensei needed someone level-headed and polite, you were the first he chose! You were always there at our side when we needed you the most! Don't forget that without you, Team Seven wouldn't be complete, Sakura-chan."

Sakura blushed at the praises and smiled softly back at her teammate. "Thanks Asami-chan."

The red haired girl nodded before she adopted a thinking pose. "Hm, I wonder how we can also get you a promotion with just one shot?"

"Eh? Do you think it's possible? I did forfeit after all..."

Asami nodded. "I think it's worth a shot. We should try talking to Naruto and Sasuke once we're done here."

The girls nodded as they studied the room they sat in. They weren't injured grievously, but the medics had insisted, believing that there was a very large possibility for internal damage. Sakura already knew that other than some bruises, scrapes, cuts, and sore bones, they were fine. Of course their chakra wasn't exactly what they would've prefered, but it wasn't at a dangerous level.

Sakura stood up and stretched and Asami mimicked her action, wincing as pops and cracks were heard. "Shall we go to the boys?" Sakura suggested.

Asami was about to agree when she spied bright red hair. She needed to talk to him. "You can go on first, I need to talk with someone."

Her pink haired teammate raised an eyebrow and looked to where violet orbs were before quickly comprehending. Nodding her head, she parted with a small wave. "I'll see you in a little bit then?" she asked, worried about her friend's safety. Asami nodded and smiled assuredly. "I'll be there in a bit. I don't think it'll take too long."

"Alright, I'll tell the boys that you'll be a bit late then."

Asami nodded and walked over to Gaara with a small frown. Kankuro noticed her and raised a curious eyebrow. The girl smiled politely and waved. "Hello! I was wondering if I could meet with Gaara-san for a bit."

The puppet user shrugged and wearily looked over at Gaara. The boy's face was indifferent, but the air suddenly became tense. "I'll be back in a bit," he notified Kankuro.

Kankuro nodded dumbly, partially in shock at being spoken to without a threat. Gaara followed as Asami led him away from the benches and inside the arena.

Asami's mind raced as she walked in silence. All she wanted to know, was _why_ he had injured Lee-san. Sure she didn't know him very well and he was teammates with Neji, but he seemed very nice all the previous times they met, even complimenting her hair. Of course she wasn't sure if it being compared to "Gai-sensei's burning Flames of Youth" and the "Magnificent Sunsets of Burning Will" was exactly the best compliment, but it's the thought that counts...right?

She stopped in front of a large window. Not because she was worried about Gaara hurting her, but because she had a feeling this talk was going to take some time. Asami didn't want to miss Sasuke's fight against Shino. Taking a deep breath, she turned around and met his jade eyes with her amythest orbs.

"Gaara-san," she started, "We need to talk."

Arena-Sasuke vs. Shino

Sasuke met Shino's observative stare with one of his own. Speed was the important factor in this battle. The Uchiha genin knew that the Aburames worked with kikaichu, an insect that absorbed chakra and could transfer any gathered information to its host. Shino wasn't the best in taijutsu, but his reflexes were very good.

Sasuke wondered how the other boy would fair if his kikaichu were in danger. He had been stacking up on fire and lightning jutsus, not wanting the fight to last too long. The dobe sounded serious about possible trouble.

As Genma signaled for the fight to start, cheers rung out, adrenaline flowing through everyone's veins as the Last Uchiha's eyes became red and hand seals were weaved.

The genin almost felt pity for his opponent. It seemed everyone was rooting for him. Although he suspected that the Aburame was still being cheered for, but just more silently.

His mouth opened as a large stream of fire was spat out at Shino. Fire was the signature element for the Uchiha Clan and the crowd seemed to appreciate the demonstration.

_I wonder what everyone would think if they found out about my true element,_ Sasuke thought as he prepared for another fire show. _I don't want to show anyone what it is until I have to. Every shinobi has to have an ace up their sleeve after all. _

Unfortunately, his plans were cut short as Shino advanced on him, cutting the distance between them within a few seconds.

It was surprising but it also made Sasuke interested in how much the genin had improved.

During their mock battle, Shino had stayed in the back, letting his kikaichu and teammates stay at the front. It made sense though, Aburame were more suited to stay in the back and gather information for their team. _They also were good at infiltration and information gathering. _

He rushed forward, intent on not letting the Aburame mark him with one of his kikaichu while still getting the first hit. His fingers moved in a familiar dance and as he puffed his chest, ready to exhale the flames, his Sharingan noticed Shino sending out Kikaichu to intercept him, yet something felt off.

His answer came when the "boy" bursted into kikaichu, flying at him, hungry for his chakra.

Sasuke swore under his breath, retreating wasn't exactly a word one would use with the Uchiha Clan, but he would have to in order to win this battle. He jumped back, even doing a backflip as he narrowly dodged some of the faster insects.

As the raven haired boy scanned for the real Shino, his hand reached for his favorite ninja tool, ninja wire.

Kakashi had shown him a few neat tricks with it and elemental chakra.

If he were to trap Shino and light the the wire on fire, he was sure that the battle would go in his favor.

When his red eyes spotted Shino, he couldn't hide his triumphant smirk very well. His Sharingan weren't advanced enough to actually predict the genin's movements, but they were slowly working that way with every battle he participated in.

Shino had been a lot closer than Sasuke expected, but his distance was telling Sasuke all he needed to know.

_He doesn't want to get too close or I could wipe out his kikaichu with my fire jutsus. It makes sense and is pretty logical. However, I don't think this should last any longer than it has to. He probably already has tagged me with some kikaichu that I can't find. _

He stared at the boy, returning Shino's observatory stare with one of his own. _Wrong move Aburame. _

Quickly, without any hesitation, he wove the boy into a genjutsu. He wasn't sure if it would last long with those kikaichu though. They could help him end it by disturbing his chakra.

So, without further ado, Sasuke flung the ninja wire at Shino, wrapping it snuggly around him and as he noticed Shino breaking from his genjutsu, blew at a gust of flames onto the wire.

He watched in surprise when once more, he broke apart into his kikaichu. Sasuke frowned in annoyance at his switching which seemed to take place within seconds.

When he sensed someone behind him, he instinctively blocked the oncoming fist and counter-attacked by pulling in Shino and kicking him back.

To Sasuke's relief, this Shino didn't disappear in a shower of kikaichu. He wondered why before realizing that Shino's colony must've been dangerously low. Shino stood back up and shot forward once more.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and shot forward, meeting Shino in the middle with a punch. Shino blocked it and instead brought a fist to Sasuke's stomach. Luckily, his eyes had been able to predit the move and instead, Sasuke parried the attack and kicked Shino.

The two traded blow for blow, each unrelenting and unwilling to lose. It was the most silent battle from the previous fights which were filled with monologues, yet the fight seemed just as serious.

Shino couldn't lose this battle. He was no prodigy, but he couldn't let his team be the only one not to pass the finals. However, Aburames were known for being logical and Shino was an Aburame. _This battle will not be in my favor. Why? It is because my colony is in dangerously low levels and my chakra reserves are falling quickly._

The shade wearing boy felt helpless as he watched his precious colony die in flames. He knew the inevitable outcome of their battle. When a punch came too fast, he couldn't sense it, throwing him across the field and onto his knees.

Sasuke jumped back, wiping away lingering sweat on his forehead as his eyes returned to its normal hue. He looked over at the Aburame who was frantically panting and was surrounded by an air of sorrow. The raven haired boy felt a smidge of guilt for killing so many of his kikaichu. He knew it had to be done or victory wouldn't have been his, but he was still human.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke!"

His Uchiha genes were pumped with pride and smug satisfaction, but he couldn't smirk, not when he had spent so much time with his new family, Team Seven. He wasn't sure if a large smirk was appropriate anyway. Of course the crowd was cheering at the Last Uchiha's victory, but his mark was starting to itch. He glanced over at Naruto who was deep in thought. His azure eyes narrowed in thought. _Is it acting up?_

His answer was a small grimace. Sasuke looked over to where Asami _should've_ been. Sakura had told them that she was talking with the strange genin from Suna, but she still wasn't there. He was starting to get worried. _Was she supposed to be gone this long? Did she see my fight? I couldn't even concentrate on anything other than fighting the Aburame..._

If someone had told him a year ago that he would be worrying about a female classmate who was best friends with Naruto, he would have told them that they sucked at telling jokes and they needed to seriously visit the hospital for a mental check-up.

He looked over at Shino and looked around at the damage around them. He wondered about what he was supposed to say to the devastated boy. Comforting others was a foreign notion to him. That was more up his teammates' alley, not his.

"It was-" It seemed that the few times he tried to be nice as his mother would've wanted, the gods disagreed.

Immediately to his left, a large explosion of sand splattered across the arena. Quickly after the explosion and admist the confusion, strange feathers fell to the ground and a smoke bomb was thrown into the Kage box where the Sandaime Hokage and Yondaime Kazekage sat.

Sasuke cursed and easily dispelled the genjutsu for himself. He knew Naruto had Sakura with him. He glanced over at Shino and deciding that actions were better than words, pumped chakra into his legs as he supported his fellow genin to the benches.

"Sasuke-kun! Shino-san!" Sakura rushed forward, ready to heal and fix what she could in a rush.

"Did you see who started the genjutsu?" Sasuke asked, popping in a chakra supplyment pill, his eyes turning back to a familiar red with two tomoe inside a faint ring. _Damn, the dobe was right after all._ He quickly knew that fighting was inevitable.

Pink hair flung around as she shook her head in panic. "No, but I saw where the explosion was! I saw long red hair and there's only one person with _long_ red hair!" Sakura replied, her voice somewhat higher in panic.

Sasuke swore. Loudly. Moans were heard as the rest of the Konoha genins woke up. He scowled. "It's about time you woke up. And don't think about pretending you're still asleep Nara."

A sigh was heard and a mutter of troublesome right behind. Shikamaru looked around and quickly got into his thinking position.

"Could you see who's around us, Hinata-san," Sasuke quickly ordered. Kiba scowled but Hinata cut off her teammate, sensing the urgency of the situation.

"The civilians are all knocked out. Some of the shinobi, mainly jonin and chuunin-," she quickly added, "-are starting to exit from the genjutsu." She paused before gasping. "There are many fights occuring around us!"

Sasuke nodded. Naruto had been right about trouble after all. "Kiba-"

The boy cut him off. "I don't need to listen to you! I already know what I gotta do! Akamaru and I will cut off any guys getting near to us!"

A nod followed the statement. "Ino, I need you to use your family jutsu on an enemy. Try and gain some information about who we're fighting."

The blonde girl grinned. "You can count on me Sasuke-kun! Chouji, I need you to cover for me!"

The boy had long discarded his bag fof chips, ready to fight for his friends. He stood protectively next to Ino, ready for action alongside Kiba and Akamaru.

"Shino, once Sakura's done with you-"

The boy nodded. "I will gather information and have my kikaichu absorb their chakra." There was no time to be depressed about his lost, he would need everything to concentrate on getting out of this even alive.

"Shikamaru, I know you've got a plan or two. We'll need to hear them out."

A long sigh followed the statement. "Troublesome. Where's Naruto and Asami? I don't want to repeat myself."

Sakura answered for Sasuke who had quickly joined a battle intercepting a would-be fatal attack on Hinata. "I think she's with Gaara-san, so she's most likely safe. As for Naruto," she paused and a rapid wind passed by, "He's right here."

The blond boy smiled grimly and stood up from his crouching position. "I've evacuated all the civilians to the Hokage Monuement. I don't think anywhere else is gonna be safe for now."

As much as he would rather not admit it later, Sasuke felt his nerves instantly calm down as soon as he spotted that the dobe was back. "Where the hell have you been?!" he shouted, dodging a kunai and letting Hinata seal off a few tenketsu from a nearby opponent.

"Look around ya!" Naruto replied with a proud grin at his efficient work. Kage bunshin was definitely his favorite jutsu. Clones of himself were blurred as they used Muteki no Arashi, weaving in and out as they knocked out any enemies in the way. After Sakura had taken the genjutsu off, he and his clones had worked on taking all the sleeping civilians out of harm's way.

Sasuke smirked. "That's great and all, but mind taking your damn spot as leader now?"

Naruto jumped down beside his teammate and slyly grinned. "Oh? I thought you liked the leader spot?"

The two boys jumped away as a fist pummeled the surrounding ground into dust. Sakura cracked her knuckles and grinned viciously at the shinobi wearing Suna and Oto forehead protector. "Please, that's so last year," she drawled out, perfectly imitating her fangirl tone, even flipping a piece of pink hair back.

"Well I see that everything's going smooth so far."

The remaining members of Team Seven brightened up. "Kakashi-sensei!"

Kiba quickly asked the number one question plaguing many minds. "What the hell is going on?!"

Before Kakashi could answer, Naruto spoke up instead. "Isn't it obvious? Konoha's being invaded."

**Haha... So guess what, I'm alive! Sorry, sorry! I didn't have any kind of Internet connection for almost one month! _ I've missed the Internet so much! **

**Hmm, this was actually a pretty tough chapter to write and I'm still not entirely happy with how it is, however, this is the last part of the Chuunin Finals! I was kind of worried I'd have to add another part, but I'm glad I didn't have to!**

**I don't think everyone's going to be happy about Asami and Sakura's battle, but I have an ace up my sleeve! **

**As for Asami and Gaara, I will be showing their conversation in the next chapter! I hope I can **_**try**_** (keyword try) to incorparate some kind of romance/friendship between the two. **

**Was I the only one who smiled at her last lines? Everyone knows that line means trouble XD For those that are impatient for full-blown/budding romance, I'm sorry to say it's not visiting anytime soon. Not until Naruto's off on his training trip at least. ^_^; Sorry if you wanted it sooner.**

**I know that Asami's interactions with Naruto are very close and affectionate, but that's because I wanted it to be like that. No, not to make Gaara jealous (hmm, that's an interesting concept), but to show that they're very close to each other. **

**I honestly never thought about putting Asami together with Naruto since I had pretty much planned who was going with who. No, don't worry, Sasuke only feels brotherly concern for Asami. I have mentioned that Asami was going to be like a Mary Sue (okay maybe way more toned down) power wise, but I **_**refuse**_** to make a love triangle, square, hexagon, or any other polygon! **

**Okay, hopefully that's out of the way! I think I'll be updating the Pairing's List so there's way less confusion...**

**Thanks to all who's been reading! I'm super grateful, especially seeing that I'm close to **_**thirty**_** favorites! Yay!**

**Up next will be the Konoha Invasion Arc which may be two or three parts depending on a few factors!**

**Alright, enough with this rant! See ya soon (hopefully)!**


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